


Sweet like a Chic-a-Cherry Cola

by aurons_fan



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Angst, Dark, M/M, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-02 08:31:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 38,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5241668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurons_fan/pseuds/aurons_fan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sora was always the kind of guy who was willing to befriend random strangers. That was just what he did.</p><p>He <i>might</i> regret befriending this guy though.</p><p>(A (Dark) College AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "I Want You" by Savage Garden
> 
> This fic has nothing to do with my... two other KH College AUs. I just wanted to write something okay. D:
> 
> Edit: I have decided to add a small little note to the beginning! This story starts out cute and adorable, but once it changes, it is not. So! If you were only looking for a cute KH College AU, check out my other series 'The Misadventures of Rooming with Friends.' That one is light-hearted and fun. :D
> 
> This one... Not so much. :)

"Sora, seriously, stop staring at the guy.”

Sora, of course, did not stop staring at the guy. The guy with the strange and lovely and _long_ silver hair framing his face as he stared down at a heavy looking textbook.

It was a lovely day outside and everyone else was eating on the lawn with sandwiches and smoothies and what the hell else college kids ate (mainly free food, but that is neither here nor there). But that just meant that it was even more important that no one was eating outside in this weather _alone_.

Sora felt a hand on his chin and then his face was being forcibly turned back to his twin brother. Sora scowled at these turn of events.

“Roxas, he’s all by himself. I can’t just leave him there,” Sora said, voice edging dangerously on a whine.

Look, it wasn’t his fault. He just wanted to make sure people were comfortable and happy, and if that meant sitting with strangers or bringing together people who had never met before, then so be it.

(Besides, both Jasmine and Aladdin _still_ sent him thank you cards every year around their anniversary.)

“You can leave him,” Axel chimed in, shaking Sora out of his thoughts. “And you should. He could be an axe murderer.” Both Roxas and Sora looked over to Axel, who shrugged. “Why else would he be eating alone on a day like today?”

“Because he doesn’t have a creepy boyfriend or nosy brother to deal with?” Roxas muttered, shooting Axel a dark look.

And that was enough. Even if this stranger didn’t have a creepy boyfriend (and if Sora was being fair, Axel wasn’t… _that_ creepy), or a nosy brother (because, hahaha, Sora was _not_ nosy. Jerk), that didn’t mean this strange guy should be sitting all by himself. His arm muscles looked lonely.

Wait.

You know what, maybe Sora had ulterior motives for _once_ in his natural life. Cut the boy some slack.

Before Roxas or Axel could make any more snarky and/or rude comments, Sora climbed out of his spot on the grass, grabbed his backpack, and headed over, hoping he felt more confident then he looked.

Either way, it was _Sora_. He knew he was going to be fine.

The guy didn’t look up when he approached, zoning out while staring at a book (or, maybe he was reading. But Sora knew that look, and it was pretty hard to read while one’s eyes were glazed over like that). With a short wave, Sora smiled, and leaned down a bit.

“Hi! Mind if I join you?”

The guy blinked, closing the textbook far too quickly for someone who had been reading that. “Uh, why?”

Sora blinked as well. He’d never been asked _why_. He was usually just met with gratitude and aforementioned person who move over and start talking about their life’s story. He never had to _explain_.

“Well,” Sora began, speaking slowly in an attempt to quickly think of an actual reason why. “I thought you looked a little lonely sitting here all by yourself on such a nice day.”

The guy raised an eyebrow and Sora felt the beginnings of a scowl form on his face.

“Is that so,” the guy said.

Sora noted that he hadn’t asked, and crossed his arms.

“Yes, it is!” Sora shot back. “And it’s not like you’ve been reading that stupid text book _anyway_ and…” he flushed. “You… look nice.”

The guy raised the second eyebrow and Sora all but threw his hands in the air.

“Look, I just thought you could use some company, but if you’re going to play twenty questions, have fun sitting alone,” Sora said, turning to leave.

He could faintly hear a rustling sound, but before he could turn, he felt the guy grab at his arm, and the textbook landed on the ground.

There was a loud _thunk_ as the book dented a small part of the cement.

“Sorry,” the guy said, before waving a hand. “Not about the textbook. That thing is deadly. But some company would be nice.”

Sora turned to see the guy’s face tinged red ever so slightly at the edges, and Sora, grinned. “Yeah?”

And, dammit, _he_ was beginning to turn red (he could feel it), but the guy looked like a cherry tomato, so Sora probably looked fine in comparison. The guy held out the hand that had just let go of Sora’s arm and shook it gingerly.

“Name’s Riku,” he said, giving Sora a small smile.

Sora tilted his head and smiled, plopping down onto the small bench beside him. “And I’m Sora. Nice to meet you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodness me, have I accidentally started a multichaptered fic where I'm not 100% sure where it's going, when it's ending, or how long it will be?
> 
> OH NO
> 
> ♥

A quick outdoors lunch led to a long discussion regarding classes and other college stuff like that, which led to Riku realizing that he had to lug his heavy ass textbook back to his room because he couldn’t just let it stay on the ground.

Plus, if the college _realized_ that Riku’s textbook had dented their perfectly manicured landscape, they would probably put it on his bill. And that wasn’t cool.

Besides, Sora was just being a good friend. After a fun discussion about the logistics of where the famed Wayfarer Trio were hiding their Keyblades before battle (Riku brought up Terra’s pants and then flushed a dark crimson), it was only polite that Sora help Riku carry that heavy ass book back to his room.

Yep. No hidden agenda here.

“All I’m saying,” Sora said, as Riku all but dropped the textbook in his other hand and tried to dig the keys out of his pockets. (No, Sora didn’t help him actually carry it. He was nice, not _stupid_.) “I know the textbooks say they carried their weapons everywhere, but how did Master Aqua manage to do those defensive cartwheels while holding a weapon in one hand?”

“Actually, she held the weapon in the hand that _wasn’t_ doing the cartwheel,” a voice from inside Riku’s room said, causing Sora to pause.

Because, not carrying heavy textbooks aside, Sora kinda maybe sorta _thought_ that he and this cute silver haired, easily blushing, actually totally _dork_ had something. Not like a _big_ something, mind you, but not like “oh did I forget to mention my girlfriend who I keep locked up in my room when I’m not home?”

…

Yeah that didn’t make much sense, but Sora was trying to comprehend the sudden inclusion of a girlfriend in his plans to woo Riku. And so far, things weren’t looking up our spikey haired hero.

“Kairi,” Riku said, dropping the textbook onto his desk. There was a loud _thunk_ , not unlike the one from earlier, and Kairi rolled her eyes. “I didn’t know you were going to be home.”

Sora blinked. _Home_?

Kairi shrugged and climbed off the bed, careful to not disturb the notecards that covered almost every surface. “Midterm coming up. I didn’t know you’d be bringing any…” She turned to Sora, and grinned.

Sora knew he was a fairly intelligent young man, but he was feeling fairly confused at the moment. Huh. She was… unique.

As if Riku knew what was running through Sora’s head, he quickly offered. “Kairi, this is Sora, who was nice enough to eat with me on the commons. Sora, this is Kairi, my roommate.”

Sora blinked. “Oh. Roommate.” He turned to Riku. “I didn’t think you were the type of guy to lock his girlfriend up alone in his room for hours or anything. Of course not.”

With a laugh, Kairi shook her head, moving towards the second – or, well, _her_ desk. “That’s oddly specific,” she said, grabbing a textbook before heading back to the bed. “And it’s nice to meet you Sora. Thank you for actually talking with this goof. I’ve been trying to drag him to parties or clubs to meet _anyone_ but he’s too busy studying.”

Riku fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable. Sora was going to ignore how cute that made him look. “It’s just easier hanging with you,” Riku grumbled.

This was clearly an old argument, because Kairi didn’t even look like she was spending a quarter of the necessary effort on fighting it. “Riku, you can’t spend the rest of your life hanging out with old elementary school friends,” she said, waving a hand over to the two of the. “Sora, thank you very much for being a wonderful human being and if it’s not too much trouble to ask, force him outside his comfort zone.”

Sora smiled and flushed and tucked his hands into his pockets and was about to respond when he realized Kairi wasn’t done, eyes staring him down.

“But force him out of his comfort zone _outside of this room_. Some of us have tests to study for, and while I’m happy for Riku, I like my gpa more.”

Sora let out a nervous laugh and turned over to Riku, who was wincing. “You’re… not kidding?” Sora asked, turning back to Kairi.

Her eyes narrowed. “Does it look like I’m kidding? Look,” she crossed her arms. “We can do lunch, tea, the whole shebang, just… not now. Cause if I fail my test, I will have to murder my roommate and I feel like that might put a damper on your plans, won’t it?”

Riku coughed. Sora turned to see Riku standing by the door, text books switched out, shrugging awkwardly.

“Right…” Sora said, giving Kairi a final nod. “Good luck on your test and hopefully see you again?”

Kairi looked up from her notes and gave him a small smile. “That would be nice.” And as her smile dropped into a scowl, Sora took that as his cue to leave and scampered out the room, Riku on his heels.

“Sorry,” Riku said, when the door was finally (and quietly) shut. “She gets a little intense during midterms.” Sora hummed, following him down the hallway, and RIku let out his little huff. “You don’t think it’s weird do you? I mean, I’ve known her since I was like, _five_ and we’ve practically been living out of each other’s back pockets for decades and I…” he frowned. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

“Nah,” Sora admitted with a shrug. “But she’s right. You should get out more. There has to be some kind of club you can join.”

“Yeah well…” Riku shrugged a little, eyes gazing over. It wasn’t the typical blank stare that most college kids got, especially around finals, and something about it concerned Sora, a lot.

Sora stepped into Riku’s line of sight and smiled when he could see Riku’s eyes focusing again. “No buts. We’ll find something, okay?”

Riku stayed quiet for a bit, and then, “I did a couple of clubs in high school and things went… south. I kind of messed up.”

When a moment’s pause assured Sora that Riku was _not_ about to elaborate on that, Sora nudged his shoulder gently. “We all make mistakes,” he said, because what else could he do? Pry?? “But you gotta keep moving forward, I think.”

Riku raised an eyebrow and Sora resisted the urge the scowl. “It’s what my mom says, okay? Don’t laugh.”

“No I…” Riku ended up snorting a bit and the scowl Sora had been working so hard to fight off quickly changed to a smile. “It’s cute.”

“I’ll make sure you don’t join any bad clubs, okay?” Sora offered, nodding. “I’ll look out for you.”

And it was a simple promise. Sora hadn’t offered to save the day or take his tests for him or anything like that. But from the way Riku’s face had lit up, it was like Sora had promised the world. And it was really hard to not grin in response to that.

“Thanks,” Riku said softly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sora nudged him again. “No problem. Now, you said you were going to show me the inside of the swanky business school?” He grinned even more when he heard Riku groan, but proceeded to drag him off.

He half wondered what had made Riku’s face fall like that, but that really wasn’t any of his business. They were practically strangers.

Strangers didn’t talk about stuff like that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW is this fic super not properly titled now.
> 
> But yeah. Did I have this idea when I started the fic? Of course not. But do I have a vague idea of where this is going? Yep! Do I know how long it will be or when I will be done? Nope!
> 
> Enjoy the ride!

Some would say Sora wasn’t a realistic kind of guy. Some – mainly Roxas, if one was being honest – would say that Sora was far too optimistic to look at events objectively and to understand what things meant in the grand scheme of things.

Granted, he had said these things when Sora had caught Roxas and his not-yet-boyfriend Axel tangled up in bed together, so maybe Roxas wasn’t _the_ best judge of character.

Either way, Sora wasn’t dumb. He knew that, for as nice it would be to hang out with someone as attractive as Riku, he probably had other things going for him. Whether Kairi had simply exaggerated how awkward Riku was, or Riku figured out that he didn’t want some spiky haired classmate tagging along after him, Sora figured that, eventually, Riku would disappear.

Sora really dreaded the day that happened. He really did like Riku.

 _And_ his arms.

But as it were, Riku… didn’t leave. In fact, the opposite happened, and Sora ended up gaining a silver haired puppy that trailed after him from class to class, walked him to his room no matter how late they stayed out studying, and was always around.

It would’ve been almost annoying except Riku was _funny_. A little biting but sarcastic and witty and _smart_ , and really fun to be around and…

Okay, Sora really, _really_ did love staring at Riku’s arms. They were just… so nice.

But besides just his looks, Riku never seemed to understand how he could command a room. Even with his awkward shoulder slumps, people around knew when he walked in and looked up to see him. But for some reason, it never mattered what others thought, because Riku only had eyes for him.

And such a thought was a little humbling.

And scary.

But when Sora’s twin brother plopped into a chair in the dining hall beside him, along with two of Sora’s other friends, Sora winced. He _knew_ he’d been forgetting something (or… someones) recently, and they definitely weren’t going to let him forget it.

“They said,” Roxas said, leaning over to grab a fry off Sora’s plate. “That you haven’t been around much, Sora. That’s not cool.”

Sora looked up to Riku. It wasn’t that the boy wasn’t normally quiet, but he never quite had this edge to him. To be honest, it kind of terrified the fuck out of Sora, but he was just going to move past that for now.

“I know, I know,” Sora said, running a hand through his hair and turning to the other two. “I’m sorry, Donald. Goofy.”

Describing Donald and Goofy was a task that Sora wasn’t up to doing at the moment, but let’s just say that people made fun of Donald because when he was upset, he squawked like a duck, and Goofy was hopelessly devoted to his friends. Loyal as a _dog_ , if you will.

Donald let out aforementioned squawking noise and narrowed a glare at Riku. “This is who you’ve been ignoring us for?”

Riku’s look was still on _this_ side of terrifying when Goofy held out a gloved hand to shake. (Goofy was a little… well, _goofy_ , but he was nice enough that no one said anything.) “Nice to meetcha, Riku!”

Finally, Riku’s stare lifted off of Roxas and turned to Goofy, where his smile barely reached his eyes. “Hi,” he said, and that was all he wrote.

Roxas raised an eyebrow and scooted closer to Sora, as Donald continued talking at, not exactly to, Riku. “Is this the guy from the commons, a few days ago?” When Sora nodded, Roxas looked upwards, as though he was hoping for some divine intervention. “Sora, you don’t have to take in every stray. Some people are able to be left alone.”

“I know that,” Sora hissed back, and Goofy tried talking to Riku and Riku returned monosyllabic answers. “But I like the guy. He’s nice.”

Donald squawked again and Roxas and Sora turned to see Riku holding a knife onto the table, mere centimeters away from Donald’s outstretched hand. “Don’t touch my food,” Riku said, the snarl barely concealed in his voice.

Sora blinked and Roxas raised an eyebrow. “Nice, huh?” Roxas asked, grabbing another fry off Sora’s plate.

Sora grunted, before nudging Riku’s shoulder with his own. All of Riku’s muscles seemed to relax as he turned to the brunet. “You okay?” Sora asked quietly, ignoring Donald in the background.

Riku quickly dropped the knife onto the table and put his hand into his lap, lowering his head. “Yeah, sorry, I…” he started, but Sora nudged Riku again, this time with his head.

“Donald’s a bit much to deal with, but he’s nice once you get to know him,” Sora said, voice still low. “We can leave if you want?”

“We don’t have to…” Riku said, just as quietly. “They’re your friends and I’ve been taking up your time. And it’s… I’m fine.” He exhaled. “Or I can go.” But Sora wasn’t an idiot and he saw the way Riku’s hand clenched into a fist, lightning fast.

Sora smiled. “Riku, you goof. It’s okay. I need to head up and work on a paper anyway.” Riku nodded, and, without a word, took Sora’s empty plate and his up to the food disposal area.

Donald watched Riku walk away as Goofy fixed Sora with a look. “Something’s just not right about that boy,” he said, hand under his chin. “He seems tense.”

“Maybe dealing with you idiots does that,” Roxas said, rolling his eyes. “No offense, Goofy.”

Goofy shrugged good-naturedly as Donald looked ready to throw a punch across the table. Sora resisted the urge to roll his eyes and glanced back to the food disposal area, ready to leave when he saw Riku.

But five minutes had past and Riku hadn’t shown up, and Sora stood, frowning slightly. As if he could read Sora’s mind (and they were twins, so maybe they did have some freaky power), Roxas stood too, and shot Sora a look.

“We’ll be right back,” Sora called behind him, as he and Roxas walked over. If something was happening, having Donald around would only make the situation worse.

As they approached, a guy almost crashed into Roxas. The blond all but shoved the guy aside and the guy gave a shrugged apology. “Sorry dude,” he said, “but there’s some argument going on and I do _not_ want to be near it.”

Sora let out something like a huff and tried to move closer, but before he could approach, Roxas grabbed his arm.

“Roxas what are you-“ he started, when a voice cut him off.

“You stay the hell out of this, Hades,” Riku hissed from closer to the food disposal conveyor belt. “He has nothing to do with this, and I’m _done_ dealing with that witch.”

Sora’s eyes widened as Roxas shot him a look.

“Hey, hey, hey, is that just your PG way of talking about her? Because we all know what she really is, no need to sugar coat it,” another voice chimed in. Sora was eerily reminded of a used car salesman and resisted the urge to shiver. “We wouldn’t even be discussing him if _someone_ hadn’t tried to break out of their deal. And surprise! That someone is you.”

“I’m not doing this anymore,” Riku said. “I was done with that shit in high school. I can’t believe you’ve followed me to college.”

“You’re surprised she wants to collect payment? Riku, you sweet innocent _sap_ , grow the hell up.”

Alright, this was far too much to deal with. Sora leaned past Roxas, ignoring his brother’s whisper of “Sora, don’t be an idiot” and peeked around the corner.

The guy talking to Riku had the _weirdest_ looking hair Sora had ever seen, and he had seen Axel’s hair. This guy’s hair was blue and styled up to look like flames. But despite his silly-looking hair, the expression on his face was cold, calculating. Riku’s hands were clenched to his sides and Sora wanted to run in and help. But the grip Roxas had on his shoulder was much tighter than he had anticipated.

“You knew the terms of the deal _exactly_ when you joined us, so don’t play cute now,” the man, Hades?, hissed as he leaned in closer to Riku. “Now I, for one, don’t give a shit about the little boytoy you decided to trail behind, but a deal is a deal. Either you come back and finish your contract, or we’re going to have a little _talk_ with him. And I don’t think you’ll really want that, would you?”

Riku went quiet, teeth clenched tightly, and the man rested an arm on Riku’s shoulder and shook, not gently at all.

“ _Would_ you?” he repeated, and Riku lowered his head.

Before Sora could do something, anything, or even react, Roxas tugged on his arm, and all but dragged him back to the table, where Donald and Goofy were, what else, still arguing.

“No,” Roxas said, as Sora opened his mouth.

“I didn’t even…” Sora protested, but Roxas fixed him a hard look.

“I don’t give a shit if he’s sad and lonely and you’d like to bang him,” Roxas said, as Sora flushed. “That? Was a fucking threat. Against you.”

Like it was mentioned earlier, Sora wasn’t dumb. But he also remember that look Riku had given him, and even if he didn’t know the guy that well, it wasn’t fair to—

“No!” Roxas hissed, leaning in. “Don’t try to _justify_ it. Who knows what the hell they’re asking him to do, and now you’ve been roped into it.”

Even Donald stopped squawking about classes to Goofy to try and listen to what they were talking about, so Sora dropped his voice even lower.

“I can’t just leave him,” Sora said, and Roxas rolled his eyes. “Even if he is an axe murderer or something, he’s… lonely. He just needs a friend.”

Roxas leaned back, and let out a groan. “That right there? The need to be everyone’s friend? That’s what’s going to get you killed.”

“Everyone alright?”

Roxas had the good grace not to jump in shock when Riku suddenly appeared beside their table. Sora, on the other hand, practically leapt a foot in the air.

Goofy frowned. “You were gone an awfully long time.”

Riku grinned, and Sora shot Roxas a look, hoping his twin powers were activating. Riku’s smile was always soft and a little sad. This was cocky and arrogant, and dammit, Sora didn’t like this one bit. “Sorry. Ran into an old friend.” He glanced down to Sora. “Ready to go?”

Sora smiled and nodded and shot Roxas what he hoped wasn’t an obvious cry for help. Roxas crossed his arms and glared up to Riku, before nodding.

 _Go_.

“Yeah, gotta work on that paper,” Sora said, grabbing his backpack off the table.

Riku nodded and turned to walk out of the dining hall, and Sora shot Roxas another look. _Now what?_

Roxas shrugged, eyes never leaving Riku’s back, and Sora hurried out of the dining hall.

                                                                                                                                      


	4. Chapter 4

“So let me get this straight,” Axel said, as Sora sat down at the dining hall table. “When I was joking that this random guy might be an axe murderer, I might have been _right_?”

Without answering, Sora looked around again, checking every nook and cranny before letting out a sigh of relief. Sora made sure that Riku had definitely gone to class before skipping his own class and heading to the dining hall. And he didn’t _think_ he was being suspicious, but Riku hadn’t brought up the weird argument from a few days ago so…

Okay yeah, Sora was suspicious as _hell_. But could you blame him?

Roxas hip-checked Sora as he climbed into the booth, making room for Goofy as well. “I don’t think he’s an axe murderer,” Roxas said, chewing on his lip. “But I think something is… off about him.”

Axel raised an eyebrow. “Are we going to simply spectate about this while plotting his demise or are we going to actually _do_ something?”

There was a cough from the other end of the table, and they all turned to see Kairi standing there, hands on her hips. Sora also let out an awkward cough and waved towards her.

“Kairi, this is my brother, Roxas, his boyfriend, Axel, and my friend, Goofy.” Kairi gave Sora a long look and Sora sighed. “We don’t _know_ why he’s called Goofy, but he just _is_ , okay?”

She shook her head and sat on a chair next to Axel, not even hiding how much she was glancing him over him. Axel smirked.

“Like what you see?” He asked, leaning close to her.  Sora could see Roxas roll his eyes.

Kairi snorted. “I was just thinking that you have one of the stupidest hairdos I have ever the seen.” Axel’s smirk fell and Kairi turned to stare at Sora, her cold stare somehow growing even colder. Sora squirmed. “You asked me here for a reason.”

“What do you know about Riku?” Roxas said, moving Sora aside to lean onto the table. “Sora said you had info.”

Kairi didn’t look away from Sora and her expression barely changed, but even he could see the small eye twitch before to stood. “I thought you might be good for him,” she said with a sigh. “I guess I was wrong.” She turned to walk away.

“No, wait!” Sora finally said, pushing Roxas aside. Kairi paused, but didn’t turn back. “Kairi, I’m sorry. But you mention something about Riku being involved with some not-so-great people before and I’m kind of afraid that he’s in some trouble again?”

There was a long moment, and Kairi still didn’t turn around. Sora exchanged looks with Roxas and the blond just shrugged.

“Please,” Sora said, leaning against the table.

Goofy finally spoke. “You know, Kairi, I don’t know much about this Riku, but he seemed like a nice fellow. Getting tangled up with that strange looking man doesn’t seem like a good thing for him.”

That got Kairi to turn around. “Strange looking man?” She said, looking at them all. “Did he give a name?”

Roxas and Sora looked at each other again, before Sora turned back to Kairi. “The guy he was talking about was named Hades. Ring any bells?”

Kairi was back in her seat with her hands tangled up in her hair before he could even finish his thought. “Shit,” she said, rubbing at her eyes. “Not again.”

“Again?” Axel echoed. “The hell do you mean, again?”

There was a long pause, before Kairi shook her head. “No. No, we are _not_ doing this here.” The chair made a sharp scraping noise as she pushed back to stand again. “Someone’s dorm room, preferably that _locks_ and isn’t easily accessible. I love Riku but …” she looked down at the table with a frown.

Goofy frowned as well. “Donald and my room is close but…”

Axel waved a hand. “I have an off campus apartment not to far away you’re welcome to use, princess.”

Kairi gave a full body shudder that was clearly so much more than Axel’s commentary. Roxas gave his boyfriend a hard look and Sora stood, reaching out towards Kairi. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and stepped away from the table. “The sooner we get to his apartment,” she said, half nodding towards Axel. “The sooner I tell you, the sooner this will end. Cause I’m not going through this again.”

Roxas glanced over to Goofy, who shrugged. “Going through _what?_ ” Roxas asked.

Kairi, without answering, walked away.

\--

“Wait, let me get this straight,” Demyx said, eerily reminding Sora of Axel earlier in the dining hall. “This Riku kid straight up kidnapped you and now you’re roommates?!”

They were all sitting in Axel’s living room in the apartment building playfully called _The Organization_.  Most of Axel’s apartment mates were out except for the musician, Demyx, who apparently practiced all hours of the night, much to Axel’s chagrin.

No matter how annoying Demyx might be strumming his sitar at four in the fucking morning, he did have a point. Everyone turned over to Kairi, who was sitting on a couch alone, fidgeting awkwardly.

“We were friends _before_ ,” she protested. “And still are. He’s always been interested in becoming stronger and protecting others but. But these…” she huffed. “I don’t even know how to describe them as anything but these _creeps_ got to him and promised him strength. But he had to bring these certain individuals in order to do so.”

“And… were you one of them? Or were you just close enough to be collateral damage?” Roxas said from his perch on the arm of the couch.

She shrugged. “He was saying that we were going to a party and next thing I know I woke up in some strange place and he’s freaking out that he had to or else he’d….” She fidgeted. “Sora, I know this sounds crazy but Riku’s really not that bad of a guy. It’s just…”

“Kidnapping?” Goofy offered, and they all turned to him. He shrugged. “Gwarsh, but Demyx is right. From what you’ve said, Kairi, that’s really the only way to put it.”

“I…” she started, before lowering her head. “I guess you’re right. But it’s not his fault. He just needs someone to help him out!”

There was a loud noise, like a hand slamming onto a table and Sora turned to see Roxas standing up, eyes narrowing. “Well, I’ve heard enough,” he said. “Riku’s involved in some cult and we have proof. If we just take you to the campus police and you can repeat your story, plus what Sora and I overheard from Riku, I’m sure we can get him out of this.”

Kairi made to protest and Sora was about to join in when his phone started to ring. “I… Hang on,” he said, standing to take the call. “Hello?”

“Sora? Sora, oh thank god. Have you heard from Jasmine?”

Sora blinked and turned back to the group, mouthing _Aladdin_ to Roxas. “No, Aladdin, she hasn’t called. Why? What’s up?” He forced a smile on his face, despite how he was feeling. “She getting cold feet before the big day?”

Aladdin started rambling and Sora’s smile froze on his face when he heard the phrase _missing for a few days_.

“Aladdin?” Sora repeated. "What do you mean, 'missing'?"

“I’ve called _everyone_ and no one has seen her and she wouldn’t just _leave_ like that!” Aladdin stressed. “Even _Genie_ has people looking out for her! And they said to just wait and she’d be back, but it’s _Jasmine_! You know she wouldn’t do that!”

Sora gave Roxas a look and Roxas gritted his teeth as Sora focused back onto the phone. “If she calls, I’ll be sure to let you know, alright?” Sora said. “Don’t worry though! I’m sure she’s fine!”

Sora thumbed the phone off as Roxas turned to look at Kairi, eyes narrowing. “What were the requirement of the people Riku took?” he asked, his hands clenched in fist.

Kairi chewed her bottom lip. “I dunno? All I know is that he said something about there being ‘people pure of heart?’ Other than that…” She grimaced, rubbing her temples. “I’m not really sure.”

“Look.” Everyone turned over to look at Demyx. “Clearly you are all in some crazy shit. And I don’t mind if you need to spend the night-“

Axel raised an eyebrow. “I do?”

“Axel!” Demyx exclaimed. “Clearly this is important!” He shook his head, ignoring the way Axel threw his hands in the air. “But if you guys need to spend the night to ponder what’s happening, you’re going to need some food. Come on, Goofy! Let’s go grab some snacks.”

Before Goofy had the chance to argue, Demyx bonded over to the front door and opened it, before letting out a shriek.

“Is Sora here?”

Kairi’s eyes widened as she turned over to look at Roxas, who was staring down at the door like he was planning to punch it through without a second thought.

Demyx let out an awkward cough and laughed. “Ah! You must be Riku.”

Without even thinking about it, Sora made to head towards the door, but Axel slipped past him. He approached the door, not so gently moving Demyx aside. “Riku. I’ve heard so much about to you. What do you want?”

Riku fidgeted. Exhaled. And a moment later, stood up straight, and smiled. Sora resisted the urge to grimace, because the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I just wanted to find him. He said we’d try to get dinner tonight?”

Sora’s phone was still in his hand, and Aladdin’s phone call was still ringing in his ears, but he nodded. He might as well let Riku know that they weren’t trying to take him out, just trying to protect him. He made to take a step forward, but Axel subtlety moved aside, keeping Sora out of view. “He’s not here. What did you want?”

Sora tried shoving past Axel but Axel held firm. But through Axel’s arms, Sora could barely see Riku’s face. Riku looked torn between genuinely upset and… something Sora couldn’t place.

“I just thought he’d be here…” Riku said, frowning. “It’s fine. I just…” Riku fidgeted again. “Look, you’re friends with his brother right?”

Axel’s expression didn’t change. “And?”

“Just…” Riku chewed on his bottom lip. From Sora’s vantage point, he could tell that he looked exhausted. Like he’d just run a few miles. “Look. Just can you keep an eye on him? I can’t always be there, and …” Riku ran a hand through his hair. “Can you just do that for me?”

Demyx glanced over to Axel, who shrugged noncommittally and moved to shut the door. Sora inched backwards so he wouldn’t be seen. Before Demyx could actually shut it, Riku’s hand snapped out, grabbing the door.

Demyx let out another shriek as Riku pulled the door open, turning to face Axel with a hard stare. Axel stood still, arms crossed and annoyed, but keeping still so Sora, who was still behind him, would stay hidden.

“I asked you to protect him,” Riku practically snarled. “If you can’t even do _that_ , I don’t think you’ll be of any use to me.”

Sora knew he should step out and say something, but he couldn’t actually move. He flicked his glance over to Roxas, who, along with Kairi and Goofy, were staying behind a couch. Roxas caught his eye and gave him a hard look. Sora winced and turned back to where Riku was standing.

Axel let out a sigh. “I’ll keep an eye on him. Will you go away now?”

Riku and Axel held their glare for a long moment, before Riku stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away from the front door without another word. Axel let out a huff and slammed the front door, before letting out a deep exhale and running a hand through his hair.

“You meet the _weirdest_ fucking people, Sora,” Axel said, shaking his head.

“Your boyfriend is going to get you killed,” Demyx offered.

Sora finally dropped onto the couch, letting out a groan and burrowing his face in his hands. He didn’t even have the energy to argue with what Demyx said.

Kairi stood, dusted of her skirt and gave Roxas a look. “I’m going to make sure Riku stops following their command,” she said, crossing her arms. “But even last time, he wasn’t like _this_.”

“Great,” Roxas said, glancing over to Sora. “So now we’re dragged in this too?”

“I…” Sora sighed. “Despite what you have seen, he _is_ a nice guy. I may not know him like you do, Kairi, but I want to make sure he’s okay.”

There was a long sigh and Sora looked up to see Roxas and Axel exchanged looks. “We _have_ been dragged into this,” Axel grumbled, moving towards the kitchen. “Great. Not how I wanted to spend my junior year.”

“Oh, get over it,” Roxas said, with a wave over to Sora, who just grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha remember when this story started out a fun and cute meeting between these two?
> 
> ♥


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of things:
> 
> Sorry this chapter took so long for me to upload! After the last one, I really wanted to plot it out and understand where things were heading, because going unmanned into WIP territory is a scary concept, and WHOO. Let's just say, this will be a wild ride. If you started this story because of its cute beginnings and that's all you wanted, you can always check out my KH College AU series, which miiiight be more up your alley.
> 
> I do _kinda_ know where the story is ending, hence the chapter amount. It might change. And if it does, it will only get longer. Dammit. 
> 
> And I'm going to work super hard to get more chapters out quickly, but man, this story, while it is super fun to write, does not want to be written.
> 
> Okay, enough rambling. Enjoy! ♥

“Roxas, you don’t have to hover over me,” Sora said, giving his brother a hard look. Honestly. Older by two minutes and one would think Roxas was the eldest by decades. “I’ll be fine.”

They were still sitting in Axel’s apartment, sprawled out in different areas. Kairi was talking to Axel, while Donald and Goofy were busy helping Demyx cook. Or maybe Donald _was_ trying to set the apartment on fire, because they weren’t actually _helping_ much.

Roxas continued staring at him from across the kitchen table, as he had been for the past few hours. Eventually, he sighed, and rubbed at his eyes. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s just, knowing you, you’ll up and disappear and then I’ll be reading about how Riku murdered you in the school paper.”

Sora rolled his eyes. “Riku is not going to _murder_ me…” he fidgeted when Roxas gave him a hard stare. “He’s just… protective.”

“Cute,” Roxas shot back. “But he can protect from like, twenty miles away or something?”

Axel approached the table, reaching down to rest his chin on Roxas’s head. Sora had seen them interact before and knew that normally, Roxas would grumble and shove Axel away, but the sheer fact that he did nothing made Sora even more uncomfortable.

“What you need is a full time bodyguard,” Axel said.

Sora groaned, dropping his head onto the table. He half expected to hear Roxas protest, but when he heard nothing but thoughtful hums, he looked up, bewildered. “I’m not a child. I don’t need someone watching me at all hours of the day.”

Roxas continued humming. “It would force Riku to reconsider any plans if he was trying to murder you.”

“I’ll help,” Kairi offered, moving away from kitchen mess to join them at the table. (Seriously, what _was_ Donald doing in the kitchen??) “I mean, I live with him, but at the very least, I can let you know how he’s doing before heading over to you.”

Demyx clucked. One wouldn’t be sure if he was responding to Kairi or Donald and his attempts to burn down the apartment. “We shouldn’t be leaving _you_ alone, much less putting you two together. That’s just asking for trouble.”

“Gwarsh, we can help,” Goofy said, waving a hand. “This Riku fella might be suspicious with more people showing up than normal, but we’re always around Sora.”

“Yeah,” Donald chimed in. Demyx just looked near tears from joy that Donald was finally moving away from the kitchen. “We’ll watch over Sora.”

“No.”

Everyone in the kitchen turned to Sora, who was sitting still at the table, hand clenched into a fist. He forced himself to breathe, before shaking his head.

“You are not making this decision for me. I said I don’t need your help and… if anyone needs help, it’s _Riku_. But I’m not having one of you guys lurking over me just in case he does something.”

Roxas looked like he was about to jump up but Axel stood up straight and rested a hand on Roxas’s shoulder. Roxas winced. Apparently, that had been one painful squeeze. “It’s just…” Roxas started.

With a wave of his hand, Axel cut him off. “Sora, don’t be an idiot. None of us want to creep on you from class to class.” He leaned in, and Sora resisted the urge to lean away. Either way, he couldn’t break Axel’s gaze. “But when a friend of yours storms up to _my_ door and threatens me, that’s not what I call the basis of a good relationship.”

Any protest Sora had died on his lips, because what could he even _say_ to that? He could still see the intensity of Riku’s stare and any part of the Riku he had gotten to know over the past few weeks had disappeared as quickly as they’d come.

Roxas looked between Axel and Sora before letting out a sigh and pushing his chair away from the table. “Sora’s not going to say yes,” Roxas said. Axel stood up straight, ready to protest, but Roxas nudged him aside. “I’ll keep an eye out on him, and if I need any help, I’ll call you.”

“I don’t need-“ Sora started, but the sigh Axel let out, as quiet as it was, practically drowned him out.

“After the shit with Xemnas, I don’t need to feel concerned about my boyfriend _again_ ,” Axel said, quiet and fierce. “You think you see something off, you call me straight away.”

“I know, jeez,” Roxas said, flushing and moving away. Sora gave him a look, because who the hell was Xemnas and what ‘shit’ with him? But it was clear Roxas wasn’t going to say anything, because he let out a cough, and nodded towards the clock. “I’m not going to pretend like I’m subtle, but I’m heading back to the dorm. Sora, we’ve been here too long anyway for you to argue like we should stay longer.”

Sora glanced over to the clock, sighed, and nodded. “Yeah. Fine.”

Roxas gave Axel a look and nodded his head, and Axel followed him into the living room. Sora grumbled to himself and started stuffing things into his backpack. There was a polite cough and he looked up to see Kairi smoothing her skirt. He stopped packing his bag and stood up straight, but she just fidgeted.

“I know I don’t have any room to say this but… thanks,” she finally said, finally locking eyes with him. “We don’t know each other that well, but… Riku isn’t that bad of a person.”

Sora rested his chin on his hands, tilting his head. “I would’ve believed that when I knew you as just his roommate, but you have to really believe that considering what he did to you.”

“It’s…” Kairi let out a little huff, before kneeling down to sit next to Sora. “He’s quiet. He’s awkward. That… overconfident, cocky, asshole is not _him_. I don’t know why he acts like that, and he never used to before all this happened but it’s _not_. And I know it’s probably impossible, but like… don’t just write him off?”

“I won’t,” Sora said, giving her a small smile. “I may not know exactly what’s going on, but we shouldn’t give up on him anyway.”

She grinned back. “If you ever get a chance to ditch one of them, we should talk to him alone,” she said, lowering her voice. “Maybe it would help?”

Sora nodded, and as Roxas approached, continued to stuff his books into his bag. Riku wasn’t a bad guy. He was just in a bad situation. And people may have made fun of how willing Sora was to drop everything for someone that he barely knew, but for once, Sora really thought this was a good idea.

\--

“You don’t have to stay, you know,” Sora said to Roxas as they approached their dorm room. “I’m pretty sure Riku isn’t going to break in.”

Roxas chewed his bottom lip. “Well duh. That would be creepy as hell.” He huffed, and checked his phone, as Sora pulled out his keys. “Would you mind?”

“Seriously?” Sora rolled his eyes. “Go back to Axel’s. I’ll be fine. And if not, I’ll dunno. Use some freaky twin power to get you back here.”

Roxas mimicked Sora, rolling his eyes just as intensely. “I’m telling you, that doesn’t exist,” he said. He moved to step away, hesitated, and turned back to Sora. “You’d call, right? You promise?”

Sora huffed. “Yes. Roxas, I can hold my own in a fight anyway.”

Roxas rubbed his face, before nodding. “Yeah. Fine. You’re right,” he said, turning to walk away. He waved without say anything else, and disappeared down the hallway.

With a click, Sora unlocked the door and shut it quickly behind him. He didn’t even bother turning the lights on, instead choosing to just drop his bag beside his desk and flop into bed, closing his eyes.

After a day like today, he wasn’t really up for any surprises.

“Oh. Hi. Welcome back.”

Sora’s eyes snapped opened. He was facing his wall so he couldn’t see who was behind him, but he recognized Riku’s voice. It suddenly hit him that he might have been too optimistic about Riku.

There was no way he could grab his phone or get to the door, considering it sounded like Riku was sitting at Roxas’s desk, and he was a lot closer to the door than Sora was.

“Sora?” Sora could hear Riku move. “Are you okay?”

Sora said nothing, trying to let his heartbeat go back down to normal levels, but eventually, he turned, and forced a grin on his face. Even though Riku would barely be able to see it, especially with this light. Dammit.

“Riku, hi!” Sora said, moving to turn on the light. Before he could reach the cord, there was a rustle, and Riku was between him and the light.

“I just wanted to talk,” Riku said, quietly. Sora could feel his heart starting to race again. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“It’s… fine?” Sora said automatically, resisting the urge to inch back on his bed and grab his backpack. Because, no this was _not_ fine. Maybe Roxas was right that leaving Sora alone was a stupid idea.

Sora also might have been trying to channel his twin powers like, right the fuck now.

The light from outside barely made it through his dorm room window, and if Riku wasn’t faced away from the window, Sora would probably be staring into his eyes, transfixed and slightly horrified. But Sora couldn’t _see_ Riku’s face, which was currently cast in shadow, and that somehow made things even _worse_.

“How were your classes today?” Riku carried on conversationally, like he hadn’t broken into Sora’s dorm room.

And Sora wasn’t going to give an inch, instead forcing a smile on his face. “Fine,” he said, through gritted teeth.

He heard Riku hum, and move closer and dammit, Sora did flinch ever so slightly. “That’s weird,” Riku said. “Because I’m pretty sure you skipped today.”

Sora let out a nervous laugh, but said nothing.

Riku moved closer and sighed. “Sora. I like you. And I really do want to keep you safe, but I can’t _do that_ if you’re going to keep _lying_ to me.”

There was a long silence between them. Sora almost nodded and agreed and said “Yes of course. Riku, you just want to keep me safe! I’m so sorry!” And then it hit him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sora climbed off his bed and flicked on the overhead light, rolling his eyes when Riku flinched. “What the hell are you doing, Riku? The guy I became friends with was nice, not this cocky asshole who tries to control my life, stalks my friends, and _breaks into my room_.” Riku glared up to him, but Sora held his ground. And inched a little closer to his backpack. “Either you tell me what the _hell_ is going on, or I will call my brother and my friends and together, we _will_ kick your ass.”

Riku continued staring up to Sora with this, to be frank, quite vicious expression, but Sora stayed still. He may not have been the best at the staring game, but this was one he wasn’t going to lose.

After only a few seconds (but what felt like the longest pause in the _world_ ), Riku’s face crumbled and he dropped his head into his hands. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Sora stayed where he was. “I just... I want to make sure you’re safe because I _know_ they’re going to punish me for not bringing it back and I _can’t_.”

Oh. Well. Sora knew how to comfort friends, even if those friends have broken into his room and threatened his friends. “Riku,” Sora said, resisting the urge to approach him. “Not bringing back what? Who is going to punish you?!” Riku shook his head, keeping his face in his hands. Sora let out a growl, and approached the bed, knocking Riku’s hands away from his face.

“Sora, what-“ Riku started, but Sora cut him off. He was tired, kind of freaked out, and, over all, kind of worried.

“No, no, no, you do _not_ get to act like you’re the only injured party here!” Sora hissed, shaking Riku probably a little more than necessary. “My friends are freaking out about this, Kairi’s worried…” Riku winced. Sora pushed on. “Hell, Riku, _I’m_ worried. What is happening to you? Who are these people?!”

Riku looked down at him, and finally, Sora saw the boy he’d met on the bench in the courtyard, what felt like eons ago. He looked moments away from bursting into tears, and Sora tried to not shake him again, even if he really kind of wanted to.

“Riku, what-“ Sora repeated, before Riku tugged him closer and kissed him.

And… a small part of Sora did completely push aside the _He just broke into my room and threatened my friends_ because, who was he kidding, this was kind of what he’d been hoping for the entire time. But the logical part was trying really hard to shove that thought away, but it was really kind of difficult because _damn_ , Riku was a good kisser, and Sora would _really_ have liked to do more but…

Sora tugged away, trying to give himself space, but Riku leaned his head in and closed his eyes. “They’re going to want you,” Riku said softly. Sora looked up in confusion. “I can’t do what they want, not anymore. And they’re going to make me to bring you to them and possibly kill you. But I’ll fight it as long as I can, okay?”

Sora blinked. And for good measure, he blinked again “Excuse me, but what?”

There was a crash, and Sora turned to the door to see Roxas standing there, looking ready to murder someone. “You,” Roxas snarled, crossing the room and yanking Sora away from Riku. “Get the fuck out of our room.”

It wasn’t like Sora had anything helpful to add, because protesting that Riku had been here before they were would probably lead to Roxas _actually_ slitting Riku’s throat. But Sora didn’t have to worry about that. He turned back to Riku, and gone was the quiet, sad face from only moments before. That cocky persona was back, evident from the smirk on Riku’s face.

“It’s about time you showed up,” Riku said, standing and shrugging. “I’ve been waiting forever for you to catch on.”

“You _what_?!” Roxas hissed, moving to approach Riku.

Sora climbed to his feet and slipped in between them. Riku looked down at him, and his mask cracked, just a bit.

“Riku,” Sora said, “What did you mean by that?”

It was a lot of effort to hold Roxas back from ripping Riku’s face off, but Sora still managed to see Riku’s expression fall. He looked up, gave Sora a small smile.

“I really am sorry, Sora. I liked having you as a friend,” Riku said, lowering his eyes.

With that, Riku turned and walked out of the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Sora was still trying to process what Riku had said to him, but it was a little difficult considering Roxas was practically screaming beside him.

“Are you kidding me? Sora, we literally just talked about this! I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone, but I didn’t know I had to protect you in our _locked room_. Holy shit, we need to contact student services or _something_. He can’t be allowed to walk around and—”

Gritting his teeth, Sora finally turned to Roxas, who stopped midsentence, eyes focused. “Roxas. I was okay.” Sora said, but Roxas cut him off again.

“You just said he broke in. Sora, you said he _threatened you_. You were okay now, but what’s next?” Roxas let out a breath and dropped onto his bed, rubbing his face. “Sora, I don’t want the next time I leave you alone, I come back to a body!”

“Roxas…” Sora frowned, but his brother didn’t move. Sora fidgeted awkwardly, before approaching the bed and sitting next to Roxas.

He didn’t really know what had happened to his brother, but after that thing with Xemnas, Roxas had become a lot more overprotective. Even _Axel_ was wary. So maybe Sora shouldn’t blame Roxas for how he was acting. But still…

“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Sora said. Roxas didn’t react. “But there’s something clearly wrong. I’m not just going to leave Riku to deal with this on his own.”

Roxas let out a soft sigh. Any other situation, Sora would have taken Roxas to have admitted defeat and backed down. But Sora knew his brother too well for that, and immediately went on the defensive.

“You are an idiot,” Roxas hissed, finally looking up. His eyes were red like he’d been about to start crying. “You know nothing about this guy except you kind of want to get into his pants!”

Sora scowled. “That’s not true-“

Roxas continued liked he hadn’t even heard Sora. “You _always_ do this! Putting your life on the line for every sap you don’t fucking know. And don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about! You almost died running into the street to save those stupid Dalmatians-“

“They were puppies!” Sora protested, jumping to his feet. “Can I do nothing to help other people or is that not a good idea to you?”

“It is if you can get hurt!” Roxas shouted.

They stared at other for a long moment, and Sora narrowed his eyes, picking up his cellphone, keys and wallet from the floor. “I’m not a kid, Roxas,” Sora said. “And I’ll be okay. But I’m going to help Riku, whether you like it or not. So you can either help me or lock me in this room. And believe me, I will break out.”

Roxas groaned. “You are always so _difficult_.” But Sora continued staring at him until Roxas grumbled and nodded. “Fine. _Fine_. But we do this my way. I’m calling Axel right now, and he’s going to help us out.”

Sora nodded, turning towards the door. “Fine,” he said. “But while we’re waiting, we’re going to RIku’s place.” He ignored the way Roxas’s eyes started to flash and added, “Kairi might be on her own. I’m not sure that’s such a good thing.”

They walked out of their dorm and Sora was trying to remember which direction was Riku’s (and was still ignoring Roxas grumbling under his breath) when he heard a squawk, and turned to see Donald running up to them.

“Sora!” Donald said. Sora winced. It always felt like Donald was screeching at him. “We’re supposed to keep an eye out for Riku, and—”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re heading over there now,” Sora said, turning to Roxas. “Have you heard from Axel?”

Donald shouted something again and Sora turned. “Riku just went into the apartment building on the edge of campus!!”

Roxas’s eyes widened and he stopped texting. “Donald…” he said slowly. “Are you positive he did?”

Donald nodded vigariously.

Sora looked betweent the two of them, confused. “What? Who lives there?”

Roxas clenched his hand into a fist. “The only people who can afford to live there…they call themselves _The Villains_ but that’s not even the worst of it. But if something bad happens in this city, ten to one, it’s them.”

“Why would Riku—“ Sora started, but went quiet when Roxsa cut him off.

“The guy we saw Riku talking to? The one with the flaming blue hair and the pissy attitude? Yeah, he’s fairly high up in that little group.” Roxas looked down at his phone, and cursed. “Fuck, we should not be going there.”

“But Riku is there,” Sora said. “He probably doesn’t know what’s going on.”

Roxas shot him a cold look. “You think very highly of people, don’t you.”

Sora chose to ignore that, turning back to Donald. “Do you remember how to get there?”

Shivering, Donald nodded. “Yeah, but I’m with Roxas on this. Let’s wait for the others to show up!”

But Sora knew Donald, and knew, even with how stubborn Donald could be, he would given in if Sora only applied a little bit of pressure. So Sora stared at Donald, long and hard, and resisted the urge to grin as the boy fidgeted and finally stamped his foot.

“Dangit Sora, you know I hate it when you do that!” Donald exclaimed. “But fine. I’ll take you to him.”

Sora grinned.

Roxas followed after, grumbling things like “this is a bad idea,” “Sora, you are an idiot,” and “Axel, goddammit, pick up your fucking phone!” but Sora tried to push that out of his mind.

Besides, even if Riku was in a situation like Roxas was worried about, Sora was going in alone. He’d have backup, or at least witnesses, if something were to happen.

He gulped.

\--

When Donald stopped in front of a well decorated apartment building, Sora looked up (and up and _up_ ) and turned to Donald. “Are you sure this is the right place?” He asked, a little warily.

Donald nodded and Roxas finally looked up to from his phone. “It’s nicknamed the Castle,” Roxas added helpfully. “No student can afford to live here.” He glowered at his phone, before tucking it into his pocket and turning to face Sora. “I wonder fucking why.”

Sora refused to dignify that with an answer and approached the building, realizing that Donald and Roxas were, thankfully, still behind him. There would be no way they could enter the building unless…

A young woman walked out of the building, and Sora caught the door before it could shut. “Thank you!” he said.

The woman was beautiful, with black hair and a weird conch shell necklace on, smiled. It was a little on the malicious side, if Sora was being honest.

“Oh, honey, _no_. Thank you,” she said, before walking away, her hips swaying as she went.

Roxas gave him a look as they walked into the building. “Did… you know that lady?” Sora vigorously shook his head, and Roxas seemed to suppress a shutter.

Sora was half concerned about finding where Riku might be except there was apparently friggen meeting room, with arrows pointing towards its location.

Roxas and Sora exchanged glances as Donald let out something that sounded more like a squawk than normal. “It’s like someone _wants_ us to find them,” Donald said.

An eerie air descended onto the group.

“Or maybe it’s just to let people know where their meeting room is!” Sora said, focusing the positive edge in his voice. He started to move towards it, turning back only when he realized no one was following him.

It was about now that Sora realized he’d fucked up, and he’d fucked up _good_. Saving Riku was important, no doubt, because everyone deserved second chances. Even if they _did_ break into one’s room, it was important to realize that Riku had been dealing with this before and maybe he couldn’t resist this time.

But he’d ben feeling on edge since that woman had opened the door for them. Well, if he was being honest, it started way before that, but the feeling that he was going to get his friends killed was kinda… stronger now. A lot stronger.

He pushed that feeling down as far as it could go, and continued down the hallway, stopping only once there was a cracked door. He peeked inside before Roxas could stop him. “It’s Riku!” he exclaimed.

“Oh, great,” Roxas said. “We’ve confirmed where he is. We need to get out of here and …” Roxas paused as Sora, stealthily as ever, slipped inside the room. “Fuck.”

With much silent grumbling, Roxas followed, as did Donald.

The majority of the room’s occupants were on the other side. There were a bunch of people seated, with one who had the _sharpest_ cheekbones Sora had ever seen, one was the guy with the weird blue hair from the dining hall…

And standing in front of them was Riku, standing tall, defiant, and strong.

Sora kind of wished they were anywhere else.

“I’ll say it one more time. I’m not kidnapping anyone else. I’m done,” Riku said, hands crossed in front of him. Sora could see the blue haired guy looking ready to flair up but the woman with the cheekbones just smiled, and leaned forward.

“Oh? Dear Riku, I thought that was the deal,” she began as she caressed… was that a staff?? “You bring the people to us and we give you what you need.”

Sora couldn’t see Riku’s face, but even from this distance, he could see that his back tensed. “No. And you stay away from my friends.”

“Friends?” Sora turned to see a man in what looked like a burlap sack (and _was that a bug crawling on his arm???_ ) cackle before standing. More bugs fell off of him. Roxas made a retching movement. Sora felt like doing something similar. “Ha! You were doing just fine before all these ‘friend’ things came into place!”

“Besides, short stack,” the blue haired one added, looking calmer than before. “You don’t take them, we take that girl you’re always hanging around with.” He shot the lady with the sharp cheekbones a look. “She should be enough to continue our production.”

Roxas gave Sora a hard look. That look meant _what have you dragged us into_ , and for once, Sora had to agree.

“Nonsense, Maleficent” said the man with the snake staff (seriously, what was with these people and staffs?!). “Jasmine should be enough to tide us over for now. Her light source is perfect to cultivate The Darkness with.”

“You still owe me,” Riku snapped. “I delivered the girl. I’m taking what I’m owed, but then I’m through.”

Sora was still trying to wrap his head around ‘the Darkness’ and the fact that Riku dealt with someone named _Maleficent_ , when aforementioned woman sighed and flicked her hand. A smaller boy, maybe just out of high school, wearing a black hoodie with a weird insignia on the back scuttled forward and handed Riku what looked like a vial filled with some type of black liquid or goo like substance. Riku gripped it tightly before turning back.

“There, my dear boy,” Maleficent said, starting to sound bored. “You will be strong and true, and unwilling to accept defeat until your enemies are vanquished. Yes, of course. But,” she leaned forward again. “You will either bring me the women on that list, or we will have to pay a visit to your dear boyfriend.”

Riku let out a snarl. “He has nothing to do with this!”

“On the contrary,” the snake staffed man added, twirling his long goatee. “The boy alone should be able to continue our production for quite some time. Perhaps we should bring him in.”

Roxas was suddenly _right there_ beside Sora and hissed in his ear, “We are leaving. _Now._ ” And for once, Sora didn’t argue. He made to turn, to run out of that door and get _some damn help_. Sora didn’t understand what the hell they meant by production but he didn’t fucking like the idea of them talking about kidnapping so… so easily and that he was apparently next on the list.

“You can’t!” Riku protested.

“Well, if you’re not willing to bring us the people we need,” Maleficent said, smiling. “Then we shall simply have to find someone else to bring him in. Wouldn’t you rather be the last face he sees, instead of some _stranger_?”

Riku lowered his head in defeat. “Please… don’t hurt him.”

Sora wanted to go to his side. He did, so badly, because Riku looked and sounded broken and god, this wasn’t what he wanted. But he had to get out of here. He would have to help Riku from the outside-

“ _ACHOO_!”

Everyone in the room froze, except for Roxas, who turned his head with murderous rage in the direction of Donald.

Donald rubbed his nose. “Sorry!” he squawked.

Time felt like it slowed down. Sora could see Riku turning, his eyes widening in horror as Maleficent stood from her seat and raised her staff high.

And oh. That was aimed at him, wasn’t it? Sora half wondered what that staff could do to him, but considering how calmly they had discussed _kidnapping_ , Sora wouldn’t be surprised if that thing was deadly.

Well, Sora had had a good life. At least Riku wouldn’t have to bring him in to be killed. And hey! No more finals for him!

But then time sped back up and he saw this bright green light and suddenly _Roxas_ was in front of him, jumping in the way. Before Sora could register that or even shout, Roxas was flung back into Sora, and they both crashed into the back wall.

“Roxas?!” Sora said, after shaking his head, trying to rid himself of he pan. “Roxas, wake up!”

But Roxas was completely limp and oh god, Sora couldn’t feel a pulse. What the hell had he been hit with?!

“Roxas!” Sora screamed, shaking him again.

“He’s okay!”

Sora looked up to see Riku taking a chug of whatever was in that weird vial. “Sora, just go!” Riku shouted again, turning back from them to face the Villains he’s been talking to. “He’ll be fine, I promise.”

“He’s not breathing!” Sora shouted back, because terrible situation or not, his brother could’ve be dead in front of him, oh god oh god.

“Please!” Riku shouted, facing Maleficent, who was staring at their little group with wise curious eyes. “I got this!”

Sora was still staring down at the limp body of his brother when Donald grabbed one of Roxas’s arms and flung it over his shoulder. “Sora, we gotta go!”

“But…” Sora said, looking back up at Riku. He knew he needed to go, because ahahaha, Roxas wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing, wasn’t _anything,_ but those creeping people were beginning to circle Riku, and whatever the hell Riku had just taken (Darkness? Or something?) couldn’t have been enough to let him hold them all off.

“Go!” Riku shouted, not even facing them anymore.

Sora gritted his teeth, and grabbed his brother’s other arm. Without looking back, he and Donald sprinted out of the apartment building, leaving Riku trapped behind the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo yeah! :D Don't worry. Story has a little ways to go. But if you're a little confused, that's... cool. Sora is too, and you're supposed to be in his giant, yellow shoes.
> 
> Also good going Donald. YOU DONE GOOFED.
> 
> :)
> 
> (Also yes. Those were all KH1 Villains, in case you missed it. Minus Hook who I couldn't figure out how to get him to add in a phrase. Maybe he's off pirating his ship or something. I DUNNO.)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, couple of notes. Just wanted to say so sorry at how long this took. Lots of personal issues have popped up which meant I couldn’t access a computer for quite some time. And I’ve missed replying to so many messages! I’ll get to them, but thank you SO much for the comments. They’ve been fun to read.
> 
> Also, some good news and bad news. The good news is that I have an outline and this story has been chugging along quite nicely. The bad news is that this story will be a lot longer than I expected (oops). Like, this is two bullet points out of maybe ten for what was originally chapter 7, so… I guess if you like this story, that’s good?
> 
> I’ll try to get chapters out in a more timely manner, but either way, Happy New Year, and thank you, again, for reading and reviewing. You guys have no idea how nice it is, especially after some recent events. ♥

Sora didn’t even flinch when he heard Kairi burst through the door of Axel’s apartment. He should probably get up and stop her from yelling at Demyx. He probably should’ve moved to give Axel more room beside him, so the poor junior could stop pacing the room and snarling at everyone who even made the mistake of moving anywhere near the couch.

But then that would mean he would have to look away from his brother, who was lying deadly still on the couch.

Riku had been right about one thing, at least. Once they finally got away, with Roxas a fucking deadweight in Sora and Donald’s arms, Sora could finally feel Roxas breathe again. So his brother was alive, thank fucking god. But as wonderful as that was, it didn’t mean that Roxas had woken up.

Sora just leaned closer to Roxas, if that was even possible, and he felt more than saw when Kairi slid beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“Sora, I’m so sorry…” she started, before she was cut off suddenly. Sora could hear Axel’s intake of breath, and he half knew what was coming, mainly because Axel had been yelling at everyone who wasn’t Sora for looking at Roxas for longer than two seconds.

“Your stupid fucking friend did this,” Axel snarled. Even Sora had to give pause, cause Axel needed to calm down. “You stay away from Roxas.”

Sora probably should turn around and do something, like defend her honor, but he heard Axel go “oof,” and when he did finally tear his eyes away from looking at his brother (still breathing. Still fucking breathing), Kairi was jamming a finger at Axel’s chest.

“You do not talk to me like that,” Kairi was saying, eyes on the edge of murderous. Sora kept a hand on his brother, just to make sure he could still feel the steady pace of his breathing, but turned to face the two. “And I came over to help, you asshole.”

The two of them stared at each other, neither willing to break eye contact. Normally Sora would’ve stepped in, all smiles and kind words, but he wasn’t … he just wasn’t in the right mindset.

Apparently Goofy could tell, because he stepped in between, fixing them both a hard look. “Now look here,” he said, giving them the meanest look Goofy could. Which, to be fair, wasn’t all that bad. “We’re both all ker-fluffled about this situation, but we shouldn’t go yelling at each other!”

Kairi frowned and crossed her arms, the embarrassment apparent on her face. Axel just scowled and pointedly looked away.

Neither of them moved, and Goofy shot Sora a look and an awkward shrug. Sora shrugged back.

“What I was trying to say,” Kairi finally said, after a little while of awkward slience. “Is that I’ve seen this before. When…” She faltered, only for a moment, before exhaling. “When Riku kidnapped me. The other girls looked like this.”

It didn’t seem possible, but Axel’s expression seemed to soften just for a moment. “How did they come back from it?”

She lowered her head and gave a small shrug, and Axel clenched his fist.

“Don’t we have a friend who is in pre-med?”

They all turned to look at Donald, who finally sat up on the couch he’d been slouching away on. After he had managed to get Roxas back with Sora, he hadn’t really said much since. It wasn’t like Sora could blame him, even if some small part of him did. Sora tried not to let it show, but every time Axel raised his voice in aggravation or anger, the duck-like boy did seem to shrink more into the couch, if that was at all possible.

Donald looked up to all of them staring at him, before fixing Goofy a look. “Right? Isn’t Mickey’s fiancée in Pre-med? Minnie’s her name, right?”

Goofy tapped his chin. “Well, I do believe she is. If we can reach out to her, then we can at least see what she says what we should do.” He moved over to the couch to see, between him and Donald, if they had Minnie’s number off hand.

Sora had never felt so useless before in his life. But just sitting here and doing nothing and hoping that someone could heal his brother while some creeping kidnapping _cult_ sat just off the edge of campus rubbed him the wrong way, and he wanted to get up and do something about it. Like, right now.

Apparently Axel felt the same. “I’m going to kill them,” he said softly. He was quiet enough that Sora could barely even make out the words. “I’m going to tear them limb from limb.”

And then he turned on his heel and headed for the door. For the first time in what was probably hours, Sora completely let go of Roxas and followed Axel to the door.

Neither of them made it that far because a blonde woman with weird antenna-like hair stepped out of the kitchen, with a nervous looking Demyx right behind her. “Oh no,” she said, grabbing Axel’s shirt by the collar. “You are _not_ doing this.”

“Get the fuck off of me, Larxene,” Axel snapped, trying to break from her grip. “I know what I’m doing, and I’m going to _kill_ those assholes!”

Larxene gave a snort and shoved him. Sora quickly jumped out of the way as Axel stumbled to the ground. “No, you dumbass,” she said, stepping over to lean down. “You are not. You have to be an idiot, thinking you can take on the _Villains_. Maleficent alone could beat you into a pulp without even trying.”

“Even if you do,” Demyx piped in. “You’re not going to win this alone.”

“Did you see what they did do Roxas?!” Axel shouted, climbing to his feet. “I can’t just—”

Larxene rolled her eyes. “I know you’re pissed, but _think,_ you dumbass.” She turned to Kairi, who looked alarmed to be the subject of this woman’s focus. “Sora and Donald were muttering about some drug when they came back to the apartment. You wouldn’t know which they were talking about, would you?”

Kairi blinked a few times. “It…” she frowned. “It was this black liquid stuff. I just know I’d seen Riku drink it a few times and it took a very _long_ time to get him down from the withdrawal symptoms when he finally did go clean.” She let out a little sigh and rubbed at her shoulders. “It’ll probably be worse now.”

Sora wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he offered. She shook her head, but didn’t push him away.

Larxene turned back Axel with a hard look. “That shit is called Darkness. Remember when Xemnas got all roid-ed up and shoved Xion hard enough that she hit her head and _never got back up_?”

Sora felt his blood went cold. “Wait. That’s what happened to Xion?” he said, voice barely a whisper, but Axel waved a hand.

“We managed to stop him,” Axel protested, but Demyx glared down at him.

“It took like seven of us, and Xemnas only had one shot of that stuff! Apparently Riku has had a _lot_. And if they’re the group that fucking produces it…” Demyx shivered.

Axel said nothing in response, apparently knowing when to admit defeat. But Sora was still staring at the group. “Xion,” Sora echoed, stepping away from Kairi. “I thought…”

If he closed his eyes, Sora could still see Roxas coming back after class one day, just collapsing into bed, refusing to talk to Sora. And the next day, how Roxas seemed better somehow, but wouldn’t let Sora out of his sight. From tagging along with him to classes, to always demanding they eat lunch together…

God. Roxas was so right. Maybe Sora _was_ too trusting of others.

He tried to not drop his head into his hands and cry because he was in front of other people and they had a job to do. They needed to figure out a way to wake Roxas up and crying about it wasn’t going to help but…

Sora reached down and squeezed his brother’s hand regardless.

Larxene threw him a look. It was a touch sympathetic, which, coming from her, was downright terrifying. “I think Roxas stopped talking about her after it.”

“But he became ten times more over protective,” Demyx chimed in, shooting Axel a look. “And he wouldn’t want you to go and run into some dangerous situation with no plan!”

“Well, it’s not like he can fucking argue with me, now can he?” Axel shot back, with a scowl.

“Hey, Kairi?” They turned to see Donald standing, hands shoved in his pockets. Goofy was a few feet away, on the phone. “What is this Darkness stuff?”

Kairi shivered. Just, straight up shivered like a freezing wind had blown through the apartment. “From what I remember Riku said,” she said, voice quiet, “Was that… within everyone, there’s a balance of positivity and negativity. Um…” she frowned. “Light and Dark, I think he said?”

Larxene snorted but Goofy shot her a look. “Why, I think Mickey is doin’ his thesis on that topic,” he said.

Kairi continued on like she hadn’t been interrupted. “And there are certain people that, if they have an overbalance of either side, you can extract it from them? I’ve heard it done medically, in the sense of extracting darkness to make things better for you when you’re down, but… This was the first time I’d heard of extracting light. But if you do it in just the right way, apparently you can combine it with and it allows you to create this super drug.” Kairi sighed. “Riku used to use it a lot in high school, cause he was always stressed out with his classes, and it helped him focus. Almost, too intensely, if I’m being honest.”

“What happens to the people that are extracted?” Axel said, stepping forward. “You said you’d seen this,” He gestured to Roxas, “Before. Do they just pass out and never wake up?”

Kairi wrung her hands. “Well, if I remember correctly,” she said, biting her lip. “That’s the first stage. If he was still a viable candidate, then they would need to hook him up and extract the light from him slowly, so they wouldn’t overwhelm the body.”

Axel nodded, but Sora’s express grew horrified. “Kairi,” he said slowly, grabbing his brother’s hand. “What happens if he isn’t a viable candidate?”

Kairi looked down. Sora fumbled for a bit, finally finding Roxas’s hand and squeezed it tight. “Well, from what I’d seen,” she said, voice going quiet. “The body will eventually reject the process and shut down.”

Sora didn’t even realize that he let out a choked sob until Kairi squeezed his other hand, the one not desperately grabbing Roxas’s.

“I don’t care how dangerous it is,” Axel said, voice strangely stead after all of this. “I’m going to kill her will my bare hands.”

Larxene eyed the situation and sighed, crossing her arms. “We’re going to need a better plan than running in, guns a blzing,” she said, giving them all a look. Finally she fixated on Sora, who was trying really, really hard not to just give in a burst into tears. “So, what do you have in mind?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The positive response on this fic makes me SO happy. I started this fic because I wanted to write something cute, and then realized I could live out my weird, ridiculous AU KH story with Disney and Magic and was like “no one will read this” 
> 
> AND YET YOU ARE. no matter the twists and turns, you are still reading. I dunno why. But you are and it makes me grin with glee. 
> 
> BUT STRAP ON IN, WE’RE STILL GOING AND THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET INTERESTING. OR...more interesting i guess.
> 
> Also, the chapter count keeps going up. Original chapter 7 has been split up again so …yeah. But you wanted more of this story right? Right. <3 But I think I have the final chapter count down. Let's cross our fingers on this.

Axel crossed his arms and glared at the group that stood across the table from him. “If we can’t storm the building,” he said, not even turning to Larxene as she flicked him off. “How the hell are we supposed to get in?”

“We shouldn’t even _try_ ,” Demyx said, flopping half his body across the table. "It's far too dangerous."

Axel sucked in a deep breath and Sora sighed, leaning back against the couch. He wasn’t about to listen to this argument for the fifth time in the last hour. He instead busied himself with checking for Roxas’s pulse (still breathing) before sighing and leaning his head against couch. This group would continue to run around in circles with this discussion and they weren’t getting _anywhere_.

“Hey.” 

He looked up to see Kairi standing over him. He offered a small smile.

“Can we talk?” she said, moving to sit on the floor beside him.  

Either way, he nodded, absentmindly reaching up to take another check on Roxas (still breathing). “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I…” Kairi sounded nervous, but Sora continued to face Roxas, making sure his brother was comfortable.  “I have an idea, and I don’t think it’s a great one, but I just wanted someone to hear it out before I did it.”

Sora’s hand paused and he turned back to her. “Wait what do you mean-" he started when there was suddenly a loud crash just behind them in the kitchen.

“I’m not going to just let _someone else_ handle this _,_ you inconsiderate fuck!”

Sora paused and turned to see Axel and Larxene now standing toe to toe. Axel’s face was almost as red as his hair. Larxene, for once, actually looked downright pissed instead of mildly annoyed.

“Don’t be an idiot, Axel. You can’t handle going up against them-" She started but Axel cut her off.

“These freaks put my boyfriend in a coma,” he snapped. “And waiting around and hoping that he wakes up _isn’t_ good enough. I’m going, and I don’t give a shit if I’m going alone.”

“Think things through for once in your fucking life, Axel!” Larxene shot back. “You’re not going to be any help if you end up in the same damn position!”

Axel let out something akin to a guttural scream and chucked a mug from the table. Sora ducked, even though he was nowhere near where Axel was aiming, and winced as it shattered against the wall.

“At least I would be doing _something_ ,” he snarled, “instead of sitting around and _thinking_ about it!”

The urge to join Axel was almost overwhelming, but when Sora went to move away from Roxas to join him, he felt Kairi pull at his arm. He turned, and she tugged, and after a brief stare off, he allowed himself be guided away. Even if he completely understood Axel’s rage, he didn't think it was particually wise for the two of them joining together to take anyone down. The pure distress the junior was under was visible, and he knew putting the two of them together, with all their rage and anger, bad things would probably happen. 

As they stepped outside, Sora shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the argument they’d just overheard and gently shrugged himself out of Kairi’s grip. “What was this plan you were talking about?” Sora asked, glad for something to distract him.

Kairi let go of his arm and took a few steps away, awkwardly rubbing at her arms.

“I’m not going to storm the building, like Axel wants,” she said. Sora, sweet kind Sora, rolled his eyes. Had she really dragged him outside to rehash the same discussion? “I’m going in through the back.”

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

Kairi gripped her fist. “I’ve known Riku since we were kids and he wouldn’t… even if he joined them again, he wouldn’t want to stay there. He’s not that bad of a guy and if he needs to be recused, then I’m going to do it." She awkwardly ran a hand through her hair and was apparently ignoring the stared Sora was giving her. “I thought I would at least let you know I was going. There’s no way I could’ve said it in there, not with everyone shouting and arguing.”

“And for good reason!” Sora said, eyes growing wide. “I thought you agreed that going up against the Villians was a dumb idea.”

“It is!” she protested, crossing her arms. “But… If I can just get to Riku and bring him out, we should be okay. I would mention this to Axel, but I don’t trust that he’s going to be able to keep his cool and not try to attack them.” She scowled as Sora expression didn’t change. “You can’t stop me,” she added. “But I wanted to let someone know where I was.”

Sora could faintly tell that Kairi was scowling at him, but his mind was a million miles away. Besides the fact that she was tring to go in there alone was crazy, but if they could get Riku out, maybe he would have a better mindset of how to save Roxas.

And, if Sora was being honest, leaving Riku there left a heavy weight on his chest. Riku was creepy, especially recently, but dammit, he hadn’t been _that_ bad. And even so, no one deserved to be stuck with those people for any longer than necessary. If they could do that to Roxas with one hit, he couldn’t even imagine what they were doing to him.

“I’m not going to stop you,” he heard himself say.

Kairi gave a faint smile, and leaned forward to hug him. “Thank you,” she said softly. “Will you let them know where I am if you don’t hear from me in a bit?”

“No,” he said. She pulled back and gave him a weird look. “Cause I’m going with you.”

She scowled again, even deeper this time. “Sora, I don’t need a babysitter-"

“If they’re that dangerous, you might need some backup,” Sora cut in. “Besides, I want to help him too.”

As quickly as her scowl appeared did it vanish and tears welled up in her eyes. He didn’t even have a chance to react to them before Kairi practically tackled him with another hug.

“Hey, Kairi!” he said, laughing for the first time in what felt like a while.

She leaned back and grinned. “Sorry, sorry. So…” she turned back to the house, where it looked like Axel was still yelling at Larxene. “Should we go now?”

Sora turned back as well, seeing Donald staring down at his phone, Demyx hovering behind Larxene as she jabbed a finger at Axel’s chest, and Roxas… continued to sleep peacefully. He almost thought he caught Goofy’s eye, but Goofy turned back to Donald, saying something Sora had no way to hear.

He gripped his hand into a fist and nodded, tearing his eyes away from the group to look at Kairi again.

“Yeah,” he said, gripping his keys in his pocket. “Let’s go.”

\--

Even though Sora knew that they were sneaking away and that they didn’t want anyone to catch them, the sheer fact that no one did was fairly alarming. Almost as alarming at how quickly they had returned to the Castle, with little to no plan.

“Have you snuck through the back before?” Sora whispered, as Kairi grabbed his hand and tugged him away from the entrance.

“No?” Kairi said. Sora shot her a hard stare but she shrugged and continued walking. “I saw it the last time I was here, though.” Sora’s stare turned blank and she turned back to him and let out a soft sigh. “When Riku brought me here.”

“But why would Riku-“ Sora started, and snapped his mouth shut. Oh yeah. That whole kidnapping thing.

Rescing Riku was looking like a terrible idea again.

Although it didn’t seem like they had really through this plan through at all. Unlike the last time Sora had been at the building and that strange woman had let them into the front door, this side didn’t had people walking around to help them out. Sora tugged at one door as Kairi gripped on a window and pulled, but all they were rewarded with were grunts and groans.

“Maybe this wasn’t our best plan,” Sora said, as Kairi scowled at the third window she’d tried to open.

“Whatever, do you see a rock somewhere?” she asked, turning to look on the ground. “Maybe –"

“We’re not _breaking in_ ,” Sora hissed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I thought we were trying to be sneaky!”

Kairi threw her dry look at him. “Then do you have a better idea?”

He had a great idea – realizing that this was dumb and Larxene and Demyx were totally right. They should just try taking Roxas to the hospital. But as Sora’s mind was coming up with what he would say happened to Roxas (“He was hit with a magical green light! I swear I’m not high or drunk!”), he winced, pulling his hands out of his pockets that had accidentally gripped his keys too tightly.

Sora blinked, pulling out the keys in his pockets as an idea sprang up in his head. Kairi raised an eyebrow at him, but Sora was already heading towards the door he had just tried, stuffing the key into the lock.

“Sora,” Kairi said slowly, as if she were talking to a small child. “Do you have a key for this building?”

Sora grunted in response. Okay, so maybe his idea was a little stupid, but whatever. It was at least an _idea_. But as he tried to pull the key out, it got stuck, and he grimaced.

Kairi sighed and walked up to the door with him. “Men,” she grumbled, just loud enough so Sora could hear as he continued to tug on his key.

He heard the door unlock and like magic, his key slid out of the keyhole. He grinned, pulling the door open. “See,” he said, with an easy going shrug. “It’s always good to try…”

The words died on his lips as he realized that, no, his room key _hadn’t_ opened the door. Someone had actually opened the door from the inside (probably had heard all the tugging and grunting and had gone to investigate).

And that someone was _Riku_.

Sora could hear Kairi gasp as Riku leaned against the door frame, head tilting curiously, because something was very… _off_ about Riku. Sora couldn’t immediately place it, not from his stance or his curious expression, until he kept searching his face.

His stomach dropped.

Riku, who normally had brilliant aquamarine curious eyes, was staring at him with blank  _orange_ ones.

Sora reached forward, more out of shock than anything, to Riku’s face, who was still regarding him curiously. “Riku?” he asked softly.

He faintly heard Kairi whisper, “Riku? It's us...”

But Riku smiled. Sora felt a shiver go up his spine. “The witch was right,” Riku said, and good god what the hell was up with his _voice_? It sounded like him but with a deeper voice overlaid with his own. “You did come back.”

Sora realized that this was a terrible, awful idea and that it was long, _long_ past time to go. He snatched his hand back as quickly as possible and tried to move out of the doorway but he felt Riku grab him from the side. Before he could even react, Riku slammed him against the door frame.

Sora faintly heard Kairi scream before everything went black.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look I updated faster!!! :D
> 
> Remember how I JUST SAID I had the story’s chapter amounts finally figured out? Well, this chapter had to be split again. Dang it. I am the worst. 
> 
> Also a friend of mine has told me to stop torturing the poor characters. 
> 
> Naaaaaaah :D

The world came back in flashes.

Sora could hear Kairi yelling something, and could tell he was being moved but beyond that, there was nothing. Well, he also felt someone (something?) run fingers through his hair, but that was creepy on a level he didn’t want to think about.

Then suddenly, he was awake. He jerked up, trying to sit up only to realize that was already standing. From what he could tell, he was trapped in some weird glass container and he could faintly see Kairi in the pod-like container next to him, slamming her hands against the glass. And if he squinted, he could see…

Was that _Jasmine_ in the last pod?! She looked asleep, well, unconscious, if he was being honest, but he could still tell she was alive. For however long they would be, at least.

He took a cue from Kairi and started to try to punch his way out to little success. His head was killing him, but he’d rather have a migraine while being free than being stuck here in this—

“Why haven’t you started the processes on them?”

He froze as Maleficent swept grandly into view. She didn’t even spare a glance over to him or Kairi. She was instead looking at the man she had spoken to standing in the middle of the room.

Sora followed her gaze and realized that it was _Riku_ she was staring at. And Riku himself was currently staring at Sora. From the intensity of his stare, he probably had been doing so for quite some time.

Maleficent approached Riku, stepping into his view of Sora. From what Sora could see, Riku tensed. Not nervous but… annoyed. Frustrated. “The boy has ample energy to double, if not triple production on by himself.” she said, her anger apparent even though her words were soft. “And the girl has plenty of power to add as well. So remind me again why you’re keeping the two of them as pets, _Ansem_.”

Sora blinked at the name and turned to Kairi, expecting to share a confused look as well. Instead, she had apparently doubled her efforts to try and escape their cage, and when she finally caught Sora’s eye, she shot him a frantic look.

_Ansem?_ Who the hell was _that_ and what did he have to do with Riku?

Riku (or actually Ansem?) looked up to Maleficent, giving her a bored expression. “It’s my operation,” he said, as he stepped out of her way. “I can do whatever I want.”

Maleficent let out a huff. “I got you a new vessel,” she said. “You promised that this boy would bring up my profits, but I cannot _do that_ if you insist on studying him instead of draining him dry!” She didn’t exactly turn to look at Sora, but the hand movements in his general direction were good enough.

Sora gulped. He was kind of happy that they were close enough to Kairi and him so they could hear what was going on, but with words like _that_ , maybe he didn’t want to know.

“Perhaps I am simply curious,” Riku-or-Ansem said with a small shrug. “Perhaps by studying this creature of light, maybe we can find more like him to further the production scale.” He approached the glass container Sora was in, reaching a hand towards the glass.

Sora didn’t want to look weak or anything so he scowled deeply when Riku caught his eye. But it took a lot of effort to maintain Riku’s gaze because Riku’s expression was downright _terrifying_. Sora didn’t know which was worse: the eyes, or the maniac glee that emanated from them. But even if this _wasn’t_ Riku, he had to be in there somewhere.

“Whatever you are,” Sora shouted, slamming on the glass again. “Let Riku go, you imposter!”

Riku didn’t even react, almost as if he couldn’t hear Sora at all. Maybe he couldn’t. Or maybe he didn’t care. “He is storing much more light in his heart than I have ever seen before,” Riku said with a hum. “Almost as if there’s someone else in there with him,” he added before lightly tapping on the glass.

If Sora thought he had been in pain before, that had been nothing in comparison to _this_. He’d never been struck by lightning, but he had to expect that this was what it must be like - sharp and hot and like every nerve in his body was on fire. Sora felt like his body was going to be torn apart at any moment. He didn’t even realize he was screaming until he suddenly stopped, voice hoarse. Tears leaked from his eyes as he slumped against the side glass, too exhausted to keep himself upright.

Riku just continued grinning. “Trying that on the girls would’ve killed them immediately,” he said, turning back to Maleficent. “But him? I want to experiment some more. Who knows what else we can get out of him.”

Sora squeezed his eyes shut, resting his head against the glass as he tried to catch his breath. This wasn’t happening. This actually _couldn’t_ be happening. This had to be some weird dream that Sora just couldn’t wake up from, right? Sora had known that things were bad when Riku had broken into their room, and obviously after brother had gotten hurt. But this? What the hell was even that? Magic?!

Roxas was right. Maybe Sora shouldn't try to help everyone out but Riku looked lonely and sad but this? The punishment didn’t fit the crime at all. He could actually die from this and no one would know what happened to him. His brother could wake up and Axel wouldn’t have anything to say because he wouldn’t _know_  where Sora was and Donald and Goofy would be sad and… and oh god _Kairi_ was here too, just one case over. What would happen once they finished with Sora and moved onto her?!

He shot her a nervous look but she was focused, _angry_ and trying to scrap at the edge of the glass with her nails. Maleficent and Riku had turned away from them, discussing who knew what. But an idea popped into Sora’s head.

Without moving too much, he tugged the keys out of his pocket and started scraping at the glass. He tried to not let his face react but when the keys started to make a mark, he felt a small grin appear on his face.

As he worked, he could hear them talking, nonchalantly, like they _hadn’t_ just electrocuted him. They really were monsters.

Riku or Ansem (Sora had no idea what to call the freak wearing his friend’s body) rubbed at his temples. “The boy hasn’t stopped screaming since I awoke,” he grumbled, giving Maleficent a hard look. “I thought you said the final dose would quiet him down?”

Maleficent gave an apologetic look, but from her, it was practically an uncaring shrug. “We needed to make that last dose strong enough so you would emerge. Forgive us if we were hoping to keep the vessel in tack. We have another dose we could try, but we're still testing it.”

He rolled his eyes, those cold, orange eyes, and let out a sigh. “He’d stayed quiet before that boy woke up but now he won’t stop screaming. It’s _aggravating_.”

Sora suddenly became focused on the task in front of him. They were still turned around, distracted and busy talking about their plans. And maybe it was a good thing that they couldn't hear him; the scraping noise of the key was loud, almost as loud as the pounding in this ears. 

He could faintly tell that Kairi had stopped her attempts to cut the glass and was staring at him but he kept staring ahead at Maleficent and Riku and hoped they kept their backs to him.

He faintly heard Maleficent discussing someone named "Oogie Boogie," and how he was busy trying to take down his main competition, some popular guy living in the Nightmare frat house who was apparently nicknamed the Pumpkin King (for reasons Sora couldn’t hear), which was why he couldn’t be here today, when the glass made a different noise. He risked a glance downwards to see that he’d actually made a cut to the outside world. He grinned, ignoring his pounding headache, and kept going.

After a little while longer, the cut was big enough that he would be able to possibly (and dangerously) kick his way out. He shot Kairi a glance but she was too busy staring back Maleficent and Riku, hands nervously clenched into fists.

He’d only have one shot, so he leaned back and, with all his might, kicked the glass.

Maleficent raised her head but didn’t turn to face him. Riku didn’t move at all, so Sora kicked and kicked until the glass finally broke.

But considering the whole damn thing _was_ glass, he didn’t have anything to hold onto and fell, landing on the floor and wincing when he felt some of the glass cut his hand.

“Finally. It certainly took you long enough. I thought you’d never get out.”

Sora froze as Riku finally turned around, those orange eyes somehow brighter and more dangerous than before.

Riku moved away from Maleficent and approached Sora, crouching down and giving him an amused look. “Did you really think your _stupid_ key was going to save you?” Riku asked, smiling faintly. He reached over and combed a hand through Sora’s hair. Sora tried not to shy away from the touch even if it made him feel sick. “Your drive is ambitious,” he said, before the hand in Sora’s hair tightened Sora let out a yelp. “But you need to learn to stay in your cage.”

Sora glared up to him, ignoring the way he wanted to hurl and tried to shove the fear back down but he felt nothing except complete fear. It was like all the sound had been sucked away from the room and it was just him and this imposter in Riku’s body smiling over at him.

But dammit, if he was really going to die here, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Gripping the keys in his hand tighter, he moved to punch Riku in the face. Sora didn’t quite hit Riku but Riku let out something like a shriek as the keys managed to cut into his face. Riku jumped to his feet, grinning as his cheek began to bleed.

“Oh, you are feisty!” He said, as Sora stood as well, taking care to remember the glass on the floor. Riku held his arms open and beckoned him forward. “Come now, try that again.”

Every part of Sora was shaking and he couldn’t even pretend he wasn’t terrified. He wouldn’t even look back to Kairi because he was too afraid to not keep his gaze on Riku at all times.

“Ansem, is this really necessary?” Maleficent scoffed, crossing her arms. “Put him back into his cage and leave him there.”

Riku let out a laugh and okay, no Sora really needed to distinguish them. Riku was quiet and shy and _kind of_ terrifying but somewhere underneath it all, he had a good heart and he was willing to protect others. Like how he’d protected Sora and his brother, and look at what _that_ had cost him. Ansem was the leader of these monsters and even if he’d somehow gotten use of his friend’s body, it _wasn’t_ Riku in there. Sora needed to keep that straight or he was going to hesitate during a fight that he did not have _time_ to do so.

Ansem threw Maleficent look over his shoulder and continued smiling. “He has spunk,” he said. “I like tha—"

They never got to know what it was Ansem liked because Ansem let out a shout, holding his head in both hands.

Sora wasn’t 100% sure what was happening, but all that mattered was that there was an opening. Any other time, Sora would’ve felt bad about hitting someone who was clearly in pain, but this wasn’t a normal fight.

Besides. Sora had grown up with an older brother. He knew how to fight dirty.

Ansem let out another shout which edged on a scream as Sora sideswiped him with the keys again on his arm. Sora brought his fist closer to his chest and clenched it tighter trying to look for another opening.

“Enough!” Ansem shouted, taking a step forward. Sora made to attack him again, but for some reason, he couldn’t… move. It was like someone had hit _pause_ on him. Sora fought against it but Ansem was still approaching, wincing as he rubbing at his temples. Dammit this wasn’t good.

“Sora. You’re a silly boy with a _key_ for a weapon,” he said, before reaching down and resting his hands on Sora’s shoulders, giving a light push.

Sora could hear Kairi yelling as he was flung backwards, slamming into the wall. Even as every part of him screamed in pain, Sora tried to get up quickly but suddenly Ansem was leaning over him, smiling down as one his hands tightened around Sora’s throat.

“Were you listening to me earlier, my Sky boy?” Ansem whispered, leaning in closer. Sora didn’t know where the hell his keys had gone but he had no weapon, no _nothing_ and could only try not to choke as Ansem’s fingers tightened. “The boy, Riku? He keeps screaming and begging me to stop hurting his friends. That was him just now, screaming _so loudly_ that I couldn’t focus on anything. But that’s what happens when you play with fire, isn’t it? You get _burned_.”

Sora tried kicking, tried flailing out of Ansem’s grip, _anything_ to give him some leverage but Ansem held firm.

"Riku," Sora gasped. Ansem went still. His fingers loosened ever so slightly so Sora tried again. "Riku, please, if you're in there, you can fight this! You're better than this an-"

Ansem's eyes narrowed and Sora gasped as the fingers around gripped his neck tighter than before.

“That light that burns so brightly inside of you is going to help us make a lot of Darkness,” Ansem whispered, leaning in close. “And once they’ve taken enough, there will be even more vessels for me to choose from and I will live _forever_.” He smiled, making sure to meet Sora’s eye. “The very least I can do for you is promise that when you die, I will use this vessel to kill you.”

Ansem released Sora and stood, dusting his clothes off. Sora rolled away and coughed, the sudden rush of air back into his lungs almost overwhelming. “You’re going to be giving me so much,” he said. Sora turned up to him, giving a look of pure hatred. “I might as well give you a friendly send off.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else is trapped inside because of the snow storm? I know I am. I hope you all stay safe!!!
> 
> Ps I am 90% sure that I have the chapter count down! 95%!!!

Out of nowhere, a large group of people wearing black hoodies surrounded Sora before he could move, much less get off the floor. Sora stayed down, realizing that he wouldn’t have been able to fight them off in a perfect world. Considering he was still gasping for breath, he didn’t think his chances would be too great either.

Even if that _was_ Ansem with those wicked smiles and malicious grins, Sora knew that Riku had to still be in there. Magic was real, fine. Body swapping was too, apparently. So Sora wasn’t going to give up on the idea that they could save him. But unless someone came to save _them_ , they weren’t going to get out of this situation, or even attempt to save anyone.

He ignored the people surrounding him, trying to shake Ansem’s expression out of his mind. Even if Sora’s wanted so badly to save Riku, it was difficult to get Ansem’s crazed expression out of his mind. That was the stuff of nightmares.

One of the people around him made a noise and he looked up, trying to hide any expression that might have popped up on his face. The people looked like they were his age, with some younger and some much older. Physically, they all looked completely different. The only thing that tied them all together was the black clothes they wore and the blank, empty expressions on their faces.

“Put him back in the pod,” Ansem ordered, turning around from the group. Sora tried half-heartedly to fight them off but even he knew when to give up. His arms barely felt like they were working at all. Members of the group easily plucked him off the floor. “And check to make sure he has nothing else on him. I want him to _stay_ there.”

Before they could drag Sora off (because even if he couldn’t fight, he wasn’t going to _help_ them lock him up), there was a loud crashing sound from over by the pods. Sora turned and saw Kairi wincing on the floor, surrounded by glass, but free. She had apparently taken a page from Sora’s book. She was gripping a key ring in her hand.

Despite the situation, Sora grinned.

“You leave him alone!” she shouted, as she climbed to her feet. “You’ve already tormented Riku before. How _dare_ you come back again.”

Knowing first hand how dangerous Ansem could be in a fight, Sora redoubled his efforts to break free but his body was fighting back. He really was just too tired.

Ansem looked confused as he swiftly approached her. Maybe Kairi was stronger than Sora ever was or she’d seen this before, because she wasn’t shaking like a leaf, like Sora had.

“Again?” Ansem inquired, turning back to Maleficent. Kairi shot Sora a look and okay, so she _was_ terrified beyond all belief. Good to know. “Did I inhabit this vessel before?”

Maleficent looked downright bored and Sora wanted to punch her in the face. “We had given the boy shots of Darkness a year or so before, but his strength wasn’t enough to allow you to fully form.” She shrugged delicately. “It did cause some side effects in him, however.”

“Side effects?!” Kairi snapped. “It almost _killed_ him.”

Maleficent sighed. “I am tired of this,” she said, before turning to the people in the black hoodies. “Put them back into the pods and lock them up, my dear Heartless. And make _sure_ they can’t escape this time.”

They made to surround Kairi and Ansem and Kairi stood up straighter, with a scowl. “I know you’re still in there, Riku,” she said, and Ansem smiled.

“He is,” he said, moving back so the Heartless had more room to grab them. He shook his head, looking almost regretful. “But from how his screaming has stopped, I don’t think he’ll be there much longer.”

Sora let out a scream and tried to tear himself away the Heartless but they held firm. He let out something that he might have classified as a snarl and tried again, hoping to find some deep reserve of energy. He was so _tired_.

“Pity.” Sora looked up to see Ansem to staring at them both. Sora gritted his teeth and tried to pull away again. “Such a waste.” And he smiled.

Sora saw red, and the next thing he knew he was launching himself at Ansem. He didn’t quite know _how_ he’d gotten free (though the pain in his legs and the Heartless on the ground holding his knee might have been a clue), but all Sora knew was that he wanted, no, _needed_ to wipe that smirk off Ansem’s face.

It wasn’t even _his_ face. It was Riku’s and how dare Ansem …!

Sora barely approached Ansem when he was suddenly grabbed at the collar and Ansem was there, standing far too close. He let out a sigh, and, with seemingly no effort, threw Sora to the ground, before kneeling over him.

“Sora, boy, we’ve been over this,” Ansem said, leaning over. Sora tried to scrabble his way up but it was like someone had dropped a weight on his chest. He tried to push past the panic when he realized he couldn’t move, but he wasn’t doing so well. “I need you. So stop making me _hurt_ you. It’s simply not fun anymore.”

Before Sora could try to fight back, before Kairi could scream and react, and probably more importantly, _before_ Ansem could do anything, there was a loud crash. Ansem looked up suddenly. The pressure on Sora’s chest disappeared but before he could attack Ansem, Kairi shouted, “Cover your eyes!”

Sora didn’t know what was going on, but at the very least, he wasn’t going to ignore Kairi, so he rolled away from Ansem and squeezed his eyes shut. He wished he’d covered his ears as well, when there was a bright, blinding light and he could hear the Heartless screaming in the background.

“Oh!” he could hear Ansem say. “Who have you brought to save you, Sky boy?”

Sora’s eyes were still closed and there was another bright, blinding light. Suddenly Kairi was pulling him up, keeping her eyes focused on him as he stumbled to his feet.

“Kairi, what the hell is happening?” he asked, as the screams of the Heartless continued. “Who—”

“Did you think you could just leave us like that, Sora?”

Sora blinked and quickly turned to see _Goofy_ of all people looking at him. The older boy was holding a folding chair like a shield and giving them both a hard stare. Sora let out a choked laugh and hugged Goofy, ignoring the way tears were welling up in his eyes. Holy crap, they might actually win this.

“Can we save the hugging for _later_?”

Sora looked up to see Donald shaking something in a bottle and throwing it back to the people in black outfits, before quickly turning away. Sora and Kairi followed suit and the blinding light appeared again.

Sora turned back to Goofy, eyes wide. The older boy shrugged. “Axel and Larxene have some good chemistry ideas,” was all he said.

“And speaking of good ideas,” Axel snarled as he ran up to them. “What the _fuck_ did you two think you were doing? If I can’t walk through the front door to take them down, you two _idiots_ just thought you’d waltz into the fucking back?!”

He didn’t even wait for a response as he took the Frisbee that was in his hands and flung it at one of the Heartless, who collapsed.

Axel approached Sora and tugged him forward, giving him a glare. “I’m already kind of freaking out over Roxas,” he said, voice low. “What do you think I felt like when you disappeared as well?!”

Sora shot Kairi a look. “Axel, I’m –” Sora started, before there was a booming crash.

“ _ENOUGH_.”

Everyone froze. Sora cursed internally as Axel’s eyes widened but neither of them could do more than that. Goofy tried tugging his chair forward but there was no give.

Ansem stepped forward, looking at all of them. “How dare you,” he said, looking at all the different people in Sora’s group. Demyx looked near tears and Sora couldn’t blame him. “I had a simple operation going on and you _idiots_ are going to try to ruin it.”

Maleficent stepped forward, a small smile on her lips. “What do you suggest we do, Ansem?” she said, her staff gently tapping the ground. “We could take all of them as to create more Darkness or…” she tapped her chin with a perfectly manicured nail. “Vessels.”

Despite being unable to move, Sora shivered.

Letting out a deep breath, Ansem looked around at all of them, and shook his head. “This _boy_ isn’t even worth all of this,” he snarled, reaching into his pockets. “If you can’t keep the boy and his friends under control, what’s to say you can control this operation at _all_?”

Maleficent’s cool demeanor fell and the temperature in the room dropped about twenty degrees. Sora shivered again.

“Lack control, you say,” Maleficent said, approaching Ansem. “You think I cannot handle these fools by myself?!”

“No, I don't.” Ansem said simply. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and stabbed her with a syringe. She let out something between a shriek and a scream as she stumbled away, grabbing at her side.

“What the fuck,” Larxene said, holding a pair of what looked like kitchen knives close to her.

Ansem turned to them, staring at Sora with a small smile. “I really wanted to test this sample on you,” he said. Maleficent began writhing on the floor. “But I suppose this will have to do. If you survive, maybe I’ll see you again, Sky boy?”

Maleficent suddenly let out a scream and Sora turned away from Ansem for a second, not even. But when he looked back, Ansem was gone, with no trace that he’d been there.

Except, you know, Maleficent screaming on the floor.

Goofy lowered the chair and looked at everyone. “Should we help her?” he started before there was _another_ loud noise.

But this time, when they all looked to Maleficent, the woman with the intense cheekbones was gone. Instead, in her place was a dragon.

Axel blinked, looked down at Sora, and threw the hand not holding his Frisbee in to the air. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He shouted, as the dragon started to roar. “Sora, you are _never_ allowed to make friends again. How is this even _happening_?!”

Larxene was looking at the creature with appreciatively as Demyx started shaking. “We’re going to _die_ ,” Demyx wailed.

And then the dragon let out another roar, this one with a lot more fire, and Larxene grabbed Demyx and they ducked out of the way. Demyx screamed the entire time.

“What do we do!?” Goofy shouted.

Donald let out a string of curses and turned to Axel. “I need help with these compounds!” he squawked. “I might be able to burn her long enough to—” The dragon let out another roar, cutting him off.

Without needing an answer, Axel sprinted over to help Donald. Goofy held up the chair defensively when Maleficent – or well, the _dragon_ started to snarl again.

“Sora!” He turned to see Kairi giving him a desperate look. “I have an idea…”

“Isn’t that what got you guys into this mess in the first place?!” Goofy exclaimed.

Kairi ignored him. “I just need some cover. Can you distract her, please?!”

Sora nodded, and Kairi ran off. Goofy gave him a look but Sora grabbed his arm as the dragon approached. It was emitting green fire, distinctly different from the bright light of the concoction that Axel and Donald were creating.

“If she says she needs a distraction,” Sora said, stopping short when he saw a glint on the ground. It was his keys, lost from the earlier battle, and he scooped to pick them up. “I’m going to help her!”

He could tell Goofy was glaring at him, but they didn’t have time to blame people. Not now at least.

Sora could see, if he ducked and dived between the dragon’s legs, that Kairi was running towards where Maleficent had fallen earlier. His face screwed up in confusion until she reached down and grabbed the staff Maleficent had held.

He grinned. At least, he did, until the dragon turned its head towards Kairi, as if Maleficent was connected to her staff.

Considering the other crazy things that had happened, Sora wouldn’t put it past her.

“Hey!” Sora shouted, waving his arms. "Over here!!" The dragon ignored him and went straight to Kairi, snarling and roaring and generally being a lot a more difficult to handle now.

Larxene slipped past Sora, stabbing the dragon’s legs with one her knives and the dragon didn’t even register it. There was another blinding light, and this concoction ended up burning part of the dragon’s hide but it just moved faster as Kairi struggled with the staff.

Sora didn’t have time to explain his plan to Goofy and instead just launched forward, sprinting towards Kairi as she finally got the staff upright.

He grabbed it and helped her lift it. She gave him a thankful nod, before letting out a scream. Sora turned, seeing the dragon just above them, but Goofy was also there, slamming into its face with his folded chair. There was another blinding light as whatever Donald and Axel had created hit it in the back.

Sora turned to Kairi, holding the staff tightly. “Count to three?” He shouted, as the dragon started to roar again.

“Three!” Kairi yelled. Together, they slammed the staff down.

As soon as the bauble of the staff touched the ground, it shattered, with pieces going all across the room. The dragon stopped mid-fire breathing, and just… exploded into the same type of pieces as the bauble.

Kairi let go of the staff and Sora dropped it as well, letting out a deep sigh. Kairi looked over at him, smiled, half collapsing onto the ground. Sora was finally able to take in all the cuts and bruises that Kairi had. He just grinned, ignoring simply how exhausted he was and sat down as well, dropping his head into his hands.

“I’m glad we’re all, you know, _alive_ ,” Axel shouted from across the room. “But is _anyone_ going to explain what the fuck Riku was doing, or the fact that we just fought a _dragon?!_ ”

Kairi and Sora exchanged glances and burst into nervous laughter.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. Update, this story really will never end! (No, it will promise. We’re nearing the end but the outlines for the chapters are too long for the chapters themselves.)
> 
> But we’re getting close! Thanks for sticking with this story.

“Oh-ho! I knew I should have gone with you guys!”

Sora peeked around Axel’s hair to see a young man with a bright smile and …almost mouse-like facial features. That probably wasn’t a nice was to describe _anyone,_ but he had really bright cheeks, a slightly prominent nose, and maybe had large ears. Maybe.

Either way, Sora wrapped his arms around Axel’s neck tighter, as he inspected the guy, and the redhead sounded almost like he choked.

Axel was currently carrying Sora via piggy-back ride. Sora _had_ attempted to walk back from The Castle himself, but when Axel had approached him and demanded they leave from the creepy place _now_ , Sora realized suddenly that his legs weren't actually moving properly. Or well, at all.  Even though Sora had pondered aloud that it must have been that last hit from Ansem that did it, he kind knew, from the aches and pains that spread throughout his whole body, it was a lot more than that. 

But that fact was _only_ relevant due to Axel’s choking, but let us move past from that. (Sorry Axel.)

“Mickey?” Donald said, moving past the side show attraction to step inside the apartment. “I thought only Minnie was here!”

Sora glanced back at Goofy, and gave him a confused look, before mouthing “Who?”

Goofy apparently still wasn’t happy with Sora and gave him a stern look. Sora shrunk under his gaze. “Now, we _told_ you we were planning to ask Minnie to come back and see what she could do,” he said, eyes narrow. "Just because you pulled that disappearing act doesn't mean it didn't happen."

Sora and Kairi exchanged looks, and after sharing a wince, Kairi followed Donald inside. “Maybe we should see what she can do about Sora as well, before he chokes Axel to death,” she said, conveniently avoiding responding to Goofy.

Sora grimaced, but didn’t loosen his arms. Axel let out a something like a wheeze. 

They all shuffled inside and the guy who had opened the door shut it firmly, before turning and giving Sora a bright smile. “Hiya! I’m Mickey. And that gal over there is my darling Minnie.” Sora followed Mickey’s outstretched hand to see a young women kneeling beside the couch, hand rested on Roxas’s forehead.

Holy crap, _Roxas_. With all the excitement of almost being killed by a former friend, Sora had momentarily forgotten about his brother. He tried to climb off of Axel’s back to get to his brother. But the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, and every part of him was on fire. He curled into himself and let out a soft moan. Now that was a dumb idea. 

He vaguely heard Axel yelling something before he felt someone’s hands on his forehead. “Oh dear,” the voice said, as soft and warm as the hands themselves. “This is worse than we thought, Mickey.”

The voice said something in a language Sora didn’t quite understand, and suddenly he felt better. Not just better, but like someone had taken away all his pain. He shot up, expecting his body to react again, but nothing happened. He checked his arms and chest for cuts, and when he found none, he turned back to the young woman, confusion written on his face.

“Minnie’s a pre-med student,” Goofy said simply, as the young woman nodded and moved to head over to Demyx. Sora followed where she was heading and winced. In his pain, he’d forgotten all about Jasmine, also unconscious in one of those pod like things from The Castle. Minnie said those same strange words again and a green light glowed around Jasmine, but she did not wake up.

“Pre-Med or not,” Axel said, eyes sharp. “That doesn’t explain the magic healing.”

“Or the dragon!” Demyx shouted. He winced when Minnie shot him a glare, and lowered his voice. “Or are we just not going to talk about the dragon anymore?”

Mickey sighed and moved to the kitchen table. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Mickey said. Axel snorted.  “And we can answer them all soon. But—”

“If Minnie can magically heal people, however that works,” Larxene cut off. “Why isn’t Roxas better yet?”

“That,” Axel said, voice laced with venom. “Really is the question of the day.”

Minnie turned back from dealing with Jasmine and gave a sad sigh. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I’ve been healing him as much as I can. Physically, he’s perfectly fine. But… he just won’t wake up.”

Sora was a strong kid. He’d gone through a lot and he’d just seen a guy who had kissed him only a few days ago try to kill him and he hadn’t freaked out _once_. But hearing that even this magical person who had some how fixed his cuts and wounds without a moment’s hesitation, couldn’t help Roxas at _all_?

He covered his face with his hands, squeezing his eyes shut. These people had answers, dammit. He wasn’t going to cry or freak out in front of these people because he needed to know what the hell was going on so he could _save_ Roxas, even if he couldn’t be done.

Look, he’d just seen a woman turn into a dragon, alright? He believed in a lot more things nowadays.

“Magic!” he said, his voice cracking slightly. He could feel most of the group looking at him and he coughed, clearing his throat. “You can heal people, Maleficent turned into a dragon, and Riku got body snatched by some guy named Ansem. Can you explain that, Mickey?”

“Wait a minute,” Axel said, arms uncrossing. “Body snatched?” After a long moment, he paused. “Nope, you know what? After today, I’d believe anything.”

Mickey sat down on one of the couches opposite Roxas and gave Minnie a look, who nodded. “I’m guessing you’ve heard of the drug, Darkness, right?”

“That weird, black stuff that Riku – er, Ansem stabbed Maleficent with?” Demyx offered.

Mickey nodded. “I’m a grad student, and have been working on the teachings of Ansem the Wise. I wouldn’t have even stumbled onto this drug if I hadn’t met Kairi and Riku a few years ago.”

Sora blinked and turned over to Kairi, who had been suspiciously quiet. “Riku and I don’t live too far from this college,” she said quietly. “And when Riku started acting weird the first time, I didn’t know what to do, and no one seemed to care, so I thought I’d ask _anyone_ who could possibly help.”

Mickey nodded again and continued. “This drug unlocks all the deepest corners of your heart and lets you reach your fullest potential. If you use it wisely, and in incredibly small doses, it would take a while for you to really notice the side effects. But if you, like most people, use it day after day…”

“You turn into a crazed maniac and try to kill people?” Demyx piped up. Minnie shot him a dark look and Demyx winced again, shrinking back into the couch.

“Your heart becomes vulnerable,” she said, standing up briskly and dusting off her skirt. “And it’s no one’s fault.”

Axel had been quiet for the past few minutes, but he looked up to Minnie “It happened to you?” He asked.

Donald jumped in his way and jabbed a finger at Axel’s chest. “How dare you accuse her of such a thing?” Donald snapped, jabbing at Axel again.

Axel fixed him a glare that could have easily melted the boy where he stood. Donald gulped but stood his ground. “But you did,” Axel repeated, turning back to Minnie.

Minnie exchanged looks with Mickey, who nodded. “Yes,” she said, looking a little uncomfortable. “You would understand if you were in med school. The pressure is immense and sometimes, a little help is nice.” She looked down, and the soft green light flickered around her hands. “And then my roommate, Daisy, was sick one day, and I ended up healing her without knowing what I was doing… I knew something was very wrong.”

Mickey leaned forward on the couch. Sora grabbed at Roxas’s hand and held tight. “In my studies, Ansem the Wise says we all have strong or weak hearts. One can make their heart stronger by surrounding it with friends or allies, or weaker, which can let others manipulate you easier. And whether your heart is light or dark is dependent on your intentions,” Mickey said. “This Darkness drug may have helped you to expand your memory and things to help you with school, but what it really does was constantly weaken your heart, until you becomes vulnerable to outside attack.”

“Maleficent mentioned vessels,” Sora said, frowning. “And that I could help… with production?”

“The drug is so strong, it needs people of equally strong hearts to pull its main ingredient from,” Minnie said. “I’m assuming, that you must have a strong good heart, just like this young lady here.” Minnie nodded down towards Jasmine, who was still asleep on the floor.

Sora wasn’t sure how to react about that, but he knew he certainly felt uncomfortable. He squeezed Roxas’s hand again, and lowered his gaze.

“Ansem the Wise mentioned a student who was also interested in the concept of vessels,” Mickey continued. “I believe the guy who attacked you and calls himself Ansem was once a full man who experimented with the drug on himself so much that he became only a shadow of his former self.”

“So,” Kairi said, leaning over the couch. “In order for this guy to fix the mistakes of using his own drug too much, he gets the Villains to make _other_ people use it, so he can take over their bodies?” Mickey nodded, and Kairi let out something that was a cross before a groan and a snarl. “That’s just plain rude. And kind of disgusting.”

“Worse than rude!” Demyx said, crossing his arms. “So that Riku guy wasn’t Riku, but Ansem?” He tapped at his chin. “You said Riku had taken this stuff before – is it possible that Ansem could have been coming through earlier?” Sora blinked and turned around to look at Demyx, and realized that most of the room had turned to look at him as well. Demyx scowled, and crossed his arms. “Does no one remember when he came to you for Sora at this very apartment? Homeboy got _super_ creepy.”

“Riku did something like that after he broke into my room,” Sora said, frowning. “He was talking to me just fine, but then Roxas came back and it was like I was talking to a different person.”

If Axel had been livid before, that was nothing compared to his expression now. “Riku _broke into your room_ and you didn’t think to mention that?!”

Sora shot him a hard look. “Right afterwards, Roxas got knocked into a coma. Sorry that I had other things on my mind.”

Axel shook his head. “No more. You are not allowed _anywhere_ without supervision.”

“You idiots are missing the most important question,” Larxene snapped, turning back to Mickey. “The dragon lady was killed after Kairi broke her staff. What’s going to kill Riku?”

Sora turned from glaring at Axel to scowling at Larxene. “We are not _killing_ Riku!” he shouted, climbing to his feet.

She shrugged. “Why not? If he’s reached the point of no return and is 100% Ansem, there’s no reason why we should protect him.”

“He can be saved!” Sora shouted again, turning to Mickey, who pointedly looked away. Sora felt his resolve drain. “Right?!” The only thing that was keeping him going was the idea that, somehow, someway, Roxas and Riku were going to come out of this unharmed. 

“There was some part of him that was reacting to Sora,” Kairi said, hugging her arms around her. “Maybe there’s some part of him left?” She gave Sora a hopeful look and Sora tried grinning back. But with all the recent bad news, it probably came out more like a grimace.

Mickey frowned. “Aw shucks,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “I really like Riku. I know that he can be a good fella but I don’t wanna give you false hope. But I’ll help in anyway I can, okay?”

“Good,” Sora said, gripping his hands into fists. “Cause we’re going back to that Castle and bringing him back.”

The room fell silent.

“I’m sorry,” Larxene said after a long moment. “But did your dumb ass just say that after we’ve heard how dangerous this shit is, we’re going _back_?!”

Sora nodded. “I don’t care if no one goes with me. I’m going at least.”

“Well, at least you gave us some warning!”

Sora turned to see Goofy, who had been quiet most of the conversation, glared up to him. Sora never quite felt as small as when Goofy, kind happy, upbeat Goofy, looked upset with him. But he certainly felt an inch tall now.

“We were quite worried about you, running off like that,” Goofy added, crossing his arms.

“Yeah!” Donald chimed in. “We’re a team, you jerk! Don’t go out along again, especially not up against something like this.”

“But you’re … you could get hurt…” Sora stammered, gripping his fist. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have made Roxas go with me. I shouldn’t have …” he trailed off, because no matter what he said, he wasn’t going to regret meeting Riku. Sora might have nightmares about that crazed look Ansem made Riku wear, but he’d also always remember the soft smile Riku had when they first met.

But he'd also never quite forget how heavy Roxas was when he had to carry his limp, non-moving brother back to Axel's apartment. That would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.

A hand landed on Sora’s shoulder, and he looked up to see Axel giving him an exhausted look. “Sora,” Axel said quietly. “We’re your friends, okay? I’m willing to put my neck on the line for you, and not just because of your brother. You can trust us.” He let out a long, long sigh and covered his face with his hands. “Even if this is a really, really dumb idea.”

“Besides,” Larxene said, twirling the knives she had apparently stolen from the kitchen counter. Again. “Where else can I justify stabbing someone?”

Demyx gulped. “I’ll… help?” he said, frowning. “Even if we get horribly maimed and killed, at least we’ll get horribly maimed and murdered _together!_ ”

“Optimism, Demyx,” Axel grumbled, shaking his head. “Always looking on the fucking bright side.”

Sora looked around the room, seeing everyone’s determined, if not terrified expressions, and grinned, turning back to Roxas. “But…” he started.

Minnie cut him off. “I’m not going,” she said, and Sora deflated. “There are a few more tests I can run on Roxas, and I want to make sure I’ve exhausted everything before I give up. But…” She stood, and rummaged through her bag, pulling out some small water bottles. “I mixed these up. I’ve been calling them Potions, for lack of a better term.” She smiled, and handed them to Sora and Kairi. “They should heal your wounds if Ansem hits like he did before.” Sora nodded, and reached over, enveloping her in a hug. She paused before hugging him back. “Good luck,” she said softly as she stepped back.

Sora smiled and turned to the group at large. They might have been going right back into the fray, but at least they knew a little more. And having that many against Riku might actually let them overpower him and win.

Maybe. Maybe not. But he wasn't going to considering that second option. 

With a nod, Sora gripped his hand to a fist. “Well then, let’s go get him!”


	12. Chapter 12

“So we _are_ actually going to die?” Demyx asked, as they all made their trek back to the apartment building. “I just want to confirm this. I have a midterm composition assignment due within a few days that I procrastinated on, and if we’re going to, you know, _die_ , I’d rather not be worried about it.”

“Demyx,” Axel said, looking like he was trying very hard to resist the urge to strangle the blond. “Shut the fuck up.”

They all awkwardly waited as Mickey started digging around his backpack (filled with Minnie created Potions) for his keycard. Apparently, Mickey had an apartment in The Castle, and it wasn’t a _complete_ beacon of evil. But, as he’d explained on the walk over, his parents had paid for the apartment, and for the past few months, he’d normally stayed with Minnie “because the place was getting kind of spooky, you know?”

On the one hand, Sora understood, because living in a building where unconscious, kidnapped women (and men) were being sucked dry to create a deadly drug was kind of unnerving.

But on the other… it _was_ a nice apartment building… Maybe once they gotten rid of all the evil, Sora could ask Mickey to sublease.

Sora shook his head violently as the door swung open. There were things Sora needed to focus on, and having a nice, off-campus apartment definitely was _not_ one of them.

“Last time we picked you up,” Larxene said as they stepped onto the plush carpets of the building. “You guys were creepily stashed away in the basement. Do you think that Ansem’s hiding in the basement again?”

There was a sharp laugh and Sora froze. “Me, in the basement? You have to be kidding. I’m not about that dark and gloomy life. I’m a clearly a cool guy.”

They all froze at the new voice that came from behind them. Sora turned slowly to see that weird, blue haired guy from the dining hall stepped out from the shadows. Any resolve that Sora had about actually storming in and saving the day and making out of this whole thing _alive_ kind of vanished as quickly as it had come.

“Who the hell are you?” Larxene asked, playing with the knives in her hand.

Sora realized belatedly that only he, Donald, Goofy, and Roxas had seen Hades before, so they didn’t realize that he could actually be a threat. “Larxene, wait—” He started.

But Axel caught on way too quickly. “You son of a bitch!” he shouted, and all but launched himself at Hades, who, in turn, looked super bored.

The asshole fucking _yawned_ before giving a slight wave of his hand, and Axel let out a scream that would probably haunt Sora's nightmares for a while. Axel went up in flames, bright blue and white ones.

“Guys, guys, relax!” Hades said. Another wave of his hand made the flames disappear and Axel dropped to the ground, breathing hard. Sora dropped down to help Axel up, but he was too busy checking himself for burns to notice. “The game has _just_ started. I’m not going to kill you all.” He paused. “Yet. Not yet at least.”

The creepy Heartless people from earlier showed up and surrounded them. Mickey let out something like a growl (which was strangely high pitched, coming from him), and Demyx let out a nervous giggle.

“So,” Demyx said, as the Heartless surrounding them drew closer. “We _are_ going to die. Good to know.”

\--

To say Hades herded them to the penthouse was putting it nicely. When Kairi had remarked that he couldn’t possibly force them to climb to the penthouse re stairs (because it wasn’t like they could all fit into the elevators), Hades just grinned.

“Service elevators! Such a great thing.”

And that was probably the most awkward elevator ride of Sora’s life. Demyx had somehow become zen with the fact that they were all going to die, because he looked more relaxed than ever. Similar to someone who knew their midterms were going to be canceled – forever. Axel looked ready to steal one of Larxene’s knives and slit Hades throat, but he stayed still, hands clenched.

Donald, Goofy, and Mickey were behind Sora, and he couldn’t see what they were up to, but every once in a while, Sora heard Donald let out a squawk.

He kept looking forward, staring at the floors passed by. Even if he really wanted to try and save Riku and Roxas, he didn’t really think they had much of a chance. None of them had these weird ass magic powers, and if Sora was being honest, the thought of seeing Riku like that was kind of terrifying.

A smaller hand slipped into his. He glanced over to see Kairi staring straight ahead, but he then felt her hand squeeze his.

He squeezed back.

The elevator stopped suddenly, and Sora’s heart jumped to his throat. “Alright children, all of you off,” Hades said, voice on the edge of being annoyed. “I am not your babysitter, so come on, let’s go let’s go.”

They all shuffled off slowly, whether to piss Hades off more or for fear of what would happen. Hades swept past them, keycard in hand.

The Heartless still surrounded them, wordlessly moving them forward, and Axel growled under his breath. “We can’t take him on,” he said quietly. “And we probably couldn’t take Ansem on alone. So what the hell are we doing?”

“I…” Sora started, lowering his head. “I don’t know.”

“Well,” Larxene added. “We’re not going down without a fight.” She paused. “No matter how short the fight is.”

Demyx let out something similar to a nervous giggle, but didn’t add anything. Mickey, on the other hand, looked like he was contemplating something. He didn’t offer any words, and Sora didn’t pry.

Especially since the door was now open, and the Heartless were practically shoving them through it.

If people had said that the normal apartments in The Castle were ridiculous, the penthouse was even worse. It was _enormous_. It was like someone had taken two floors of Sora’s dorm and laid them out side by side. But instead of parking space-sized rooms, there was just openness, impressively decorated walls, and the air of richness that lingered in the air.

Sora felt uncomfortable even being in this room, despite the danger that lay ahead. He could lean forward and friggen break something, with his luck.

“I knew you’d come back, Sky-boy.”

Sora gritted his teeth and looked up to see a smiling Riku – no, _Ansem_ staring at him. He was sitting on some couch across the room, surrounded by some of the other people Sora had seen the night Roxas went into his coma. There was the creepy man with the snake staff sitting on Ansem’s right hand side, and the woman with the conch shell necklace who had opened the door for them on his left. The creepy dude with the body made of bugs sat on a love seat alone (probably because, oh god, _bugs were still dropping off of him, what the hell_ ).

Hades let out a huff and made his way to the sitting area, plopping onto the love seat opposite the bug man. “Are we gonna get this started, or are you going to stare at each other all day?” Hades said, looking more and more annoyed as time passed. “Because, hey, I got things to do, and being your man-servant wasn’t exactly on my schedule.”

“Be silent, Hades,” Ansem said, not looking away from Sora. Hades let out a grumble but didn’t say anything. “You have managed to reduce our numbers, Sky-boy, but did you actually think you would win? Have you gained powers since I last saw you?” Sora said nothing, but Anem only laughed, standing to his feet. “And you’ve brought even _more_ friends! You will all make such perfect vessels.” Ansem took a step forward, raising a hand. “Now, when I kill you, should I still use this body or one of your friends? Which would you prefer?”

Even if Sora was going to answer, Ansem didn’t give him a chance, as a flash of what looked like lightning shot from his hand and towards the group. Sora couldn’t even do anything, much less fight back, when something flashed in his vision.

“I think you’ve said quite enough!”

When Sora could finally focus on what was in front of him, he saw Mickey standing in front of the group, hands raised as well. Since they had been in the elevator, he’d donned a pair of white gloves that were now covered in scorch marks. Sora blinked.

“Mickey?” Donald squawked. “How did you do that?”

Ansem’s smile was still on his face, but it looked like it was painful to keep up appearances. “Mickey…” he said, as if he were testing the name out. “Why do you sound so familiar?”

Mickey stood up straight and glared at Ansem. “You've already hurt Riku once. You better leave Riku alone this time if you know what’s good for you!”

Ansem continued to stare at him, the smile twitching slightly. "A student of Ansem the Wise," Ansem breathed, taking a slight step back. He and Mickey seemed to be having a stare off, before Ansem let out a sigh and waved a hand. “These exercises exhaust me. Jafar, kill them all. But leave Sky-boy alive.”

With a twirl of his goatee, the man with the snake staff, or well, _Jafar_ , gave a nod. The Heartless tightened on the group. “Kill them all,” Jafar ordered, sounding bored. “And you heard Ansem.”

The group of Heartless that surrounded Sora and the gang tightened. Axel let out something like a snarl. “Got any more ideas, Mickey?” Axel said. Larxene pulled out her knives, Goofy tightened his hands into fists, and Kairi growled. Axel shook his head, giving Sora a glance before turning back to the Heartless. “Cause they would be _really_ great right about now.”

“I…” Mickey started, looking around at the Heartless. “I don’t know if I can move fast enough to take them all down and protect you guys!”

Sora looked around, taking in the situation, before nodding to himself. “I have an idea,” he said, moving to get around Mickey. “It might be a dumb one but…”

No, scratch that, this was _such_ a dumb idea, and if it didn’t work (and could it work?), they would die. But they were going to die no matter what, and especially if Ansem was stressing that Sora should live…

Sora approached the nearest Heartless, resisting the urge the back away. The person (it had been a person, right??) looked up to Sora, and their eyes were bright yellow. And they wouldn’t stop _twitching,_ oh god it was so creepy.

“Sora,” Axel said, trying to move forward, but Larxene grabbed at his arm. “Sora, what the hell are you doing?!”

Everyone, from Ansem and Malefient, had stressed that Sora was somehow different from the others they’d drawn energy from. That he was too _light_ or something and was perfect to make Darkness. And maybe Sora had watched too many movies or read too many stories, but this was a life or death situation, he might as well try everything, right?

Sora stepped closer to the Heartless and it tilted its head, following the orders to not hurt him. “I have a crazy idea…” Sora started, as he reached out and touched the Heartless’s arm.

And the sound the Heartless let out was inhumane. Its feral scream made every hair on Sora’s body stand on end, but that only seemed to push him forward. He reached up and grabbed the person’s face. The screams got louder and he realized that the one he was touching wasn’t the only one screaming. Now they _all_ were. He would’ve looked around but the thing was twisting and turning and Sora was trying very, very hard to keep his grip steady.

He faintly realized that Axel was shouting at him, and that Ansem was staring at him, but Sora ignored that, and squeezed at the person’s face even harder, hoping that the screaming would just _end_.

A bright flash of light came from Sora’s hands or maybe from the Heartless themselves, and then all of the Heartless collapsed. Just fell flat onto the floor, shook a few times, and went still.

Sora stood up, staring down at his hands. “What the…” he started, before another scream came.

This time it was from Ansem. Sora had just enough time to look up before a glass was chucked towards the group. Axel grabbed Sora’s arm and yanked him aside and the glass went over their heads, smashing into the wall behind them.

“Bring the boy to me,” Ansem said, his orange eyes flashing. He turned towards Jafar, who looked unperturbed throughout the whole thing. “Kill his friends and bring the boy here.” Ansem turned back to them, hands clenched. “I don’t care if he’s a corpse. I want him _now_.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're so close to the end, I can almost feel it! Again, thanks for sticking with this story, through its twists and turns!

Sora wasn’t a fighter. Really he wasn’t. But when a man in a bug suit made of bugs? (Sora would never be sure and he _really_ didn’t want to find out) came barreling at him, ready to kill, Sora was ready to scratch the freak’s eyes out.

“Here!” Kairi shouted. Sora turned just in time to catch the broom that she had tossed, before turning and hitting the bug guy as hard as he could. Bugs spilled out of his side, and yeah, Sora really _was_ going to be sick before the night was over.

Whoever was paying for this penthouse was going to be mighty disappointed with the damage bill. Sora and Kairi took turns whacking at the bug guy (or Oogie Boogie as Ansem had called him). Larxene and Axel were fighting side by side against the woman with the conch shell, with Larxene’s knives and Axel’s chemical warfare (he really should be more careful about where he was throwing that stuff!). Meanwhile, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey were throwing hits at Jafar and his creepy staff.

Demyx took one look at the people lying on the ground and actually _didn’t_ run away like he probably wanted to. He instead was taking pulses and seeing if people were still breathing and trying to make them more comfortable.

Ansem watched the whole scene silently, not moving from his chair. Strangely enough, neither had Hades. He leaned back in his chair and had somehow conjured up a cigar, watching the entire thing with this amused grin on his face.

“Sora!”

He turned back to the fight and ducked when Oogie Boogie let out a roar and swung at him. He and Kairi had managed to knock off half of him (which was disgusting beyond words, as there were BUGS everywhere), when Axel had pulled a flask out of his pocket and dumped it on him.

Have you ever heard bugs scream? Neither had Sora, but he didn’t think he’d get the sounds out of his mind. Ever. God, it was high pitched and pained and friggen _awful_.

“One more hit,” Kairi hissed. She spun, taking the second broom she’d found and hit Oogie Boogie right in the face.

He screamed, but it faded away as more of the bugs fell into the chemical concoction Axel had dropped onto them. There was a loud, throaty laugh, and Sora turned to see Larxene driving a knife into the woman’s shoulder.

“Ah, you fools!” She yelled, pulling the knife out and tossing it aside. She managed to backhand Larxene, who stumbled to the floor. “You cannot possibly think that you can defeat me, the great sea witch—”

“Yeah, no,” Axel cut her off, dumping more of the concoction onto her head. There was a loud scream from her as well, but she didn’t fade away like bug man. She more… bubbled. And fizzed. And disintegrated into the carpet.

Larxene looked up, giving Axel an appreciative look. “Thanks,” she said, as he gave her a hand.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he said, turning the flask upside down. “I’m empty.”

There was a squawk and the four of them turned to Donald, whose shirt was on fire. Sora looked over to Hades, to see if he’d played that trick again, but the blue haired man just grinned and waved back.

“You think you fools can defeat me!” Jafar spat, taking a swipe at Goofy. Goofy ducked and held up what looked like the top of a fancy table to shield himself, but even he stumbled to the floor. “I am so much stronger than you! I should not be fighting _brats!_ ”

Mickey let out a cry and yellow lightning emerged from his hands, striking Jafar on his side. Jafar swung his staff and knocked Mickey down before he could react. With Donald screaming about his clothes being on fire, and Goofy still down from that last blow, there was no one around to stop Jafar from hitting Mickey again.

Sora moved before he could think about it and crouched over Mickey, as Jafar’s staff smashed onto his arms. He let out a shout, really hoping that the pain wasn’t from a broken arm, when there was a loud crash. Sora looked up to see Jafar being blasted to the other side of the room. Ansem stood, breathing heavily.

Sora turned back to Mickey, needing to make sure he was okay before the fight started up again. “Are you okay?” Sora asked, trying to shake Mickey. The young man nodded and started to move, as Jafar let out a shout from where he lay.

“You said the boy was fair game!” He exclaimed, as Ansem approached their group. Sora’s eyes widened and tried to get Mickey to move faster. “You said that—”

Suddenly there was a bright light, and Jafar screamed. Sora squeezed his eyes shut, but when he opened them again, there was nothing left but a Jafar-sized scorch mark on the wall. He looked up to Ansem, trying not to shake as badly as he wanted to.

“I lied,” Ansem said, before turning back to Sora. “Now, where was I?”

Sora froze, as Ansem knelt down staring at him. “You have been _so_ much more trouble that you are worth, Sky-Boy,” he said, before waving a hand.

Mickey flew out of Sora’s sight. When Sora turned behind him, he saw all of them, shoved up against the wall.

“Dammit!” Axel shouted.

“Riku, please!” Kairi yelled.

Ansem sighed and waved his hand again, and they went silent.

Sora snarled and tried to move but Ansem turned back to him and Sora realized he couldn’t. Again.

Ansem let out another sigh and gently ran a hand through Sora’s hair. Sora tried to keep a straight face but he couldn’t stop the growl that slipped past his lips. “Screw the production,” Ansem said softly. “You would be a perfect vessel, with so much light to tap into. Enough light to hurt my precious Heartless.” But he tilted his head and closed his eyes. “But my current vessel is fine. So do you know what I’m going to do?” Ansem opened his eyes suddenly and leaned into Sora’s personal space.

Sora would’ve given anything to lean away from him but he couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything except stare into Ansem’s eyes. They may have been orange and vicious and, _god,_ despite everything, they were _Riku’s_.

Ansem continued, eyes flashing. “I’m going to kill your friends. I’m going to rip their still beating hearts from their chests. And then, when you finally realize that you will never, _ever_ defeat me, I will snap your neck. And then maybe, _maybe_ , this boy will understand that I have won, no one can save him, _and he finally will shut up_.”

He leaned away, probably to fulfill what he had promised but Sora couldn’t let him. He still couldn’t move, dammit, but he had to at least _try_. Riku was somewhere in there, he knew it, and he didn’t have any other choice.

“Riku, _please_ ,” Sora said. Ansem paused, and Sora took that as encouragement to keep going. “Riku, you’re in there, I _know_ you are. You’re a good guy, no, a _great_ one. You can fight this! Just come back to us,” he said, before his voice dropped. “Come back to _me_.”

Ansem still hadn’t moved. If Sora squinted, maybe he could see a bit of Riku shining through, but when Sora tried to move, he still couldn’t. He’d just have to keep trying, and maybe he could actually break through and this nightmare could be over.

Ansem let out a long, slow sigh and turned to face him. Sora froze as Ansem moved forward, leaning in his face again. Any trace of Riku that he thought he’d seen was completely gone. “You are getting on my nerves,” Ansem said, mouth barely a hair’s breath away from Sora’s face. “So be _quiet_.”

And then he grabbed Sora’s right arm and snapped it.

Sora screamed. Any thought that had been running through his head vanished completely because holy _fuck_ Ansem just broke his arm like it was _nothing_. He half-thought he heard someone yelling for him but he couldn’t force himself to concentrate, much less react. “Riku,” he whimpered, afraid to even move his arm for fear of the pain. “ _Why_?”

Axel let out a sound like a snarl and Sora looked up, trying to keep his arm steady and winced because even with all his efforts, it still hurt like hell. His breathing became more and more erratic as Ansem slowly walked over to to pick up the knife the sea witch had tossed away and approached Axel.

Despite how much his arm was killing him and that Sora could barely move, he had to do something.

“Riku! Riku, please you _can’t!_ ” Sora screamed. He didn’t even know if he was still frozen because he couldn’t move anything. Everything hurt so much and god, _Axel_. He was going to watch Axel die and he couldn’t _do anything_.

“I’m not Riku,” Ansem said, not turning around. Axel said nothing, eyes narrowed and fierce. “And maybe, after this, Riku will _finally_ give up.”

If Ansem had turned around to see Sora trying his hardest to move and save his friends, maybe Ansem would have actually won. But he was too busy enjoying Axel trying very hard not to react to the knife laying against his chest to think of a silly thing like losing. Because how could he lose? There was no one left.

Sora let out a frustrated scream and lowered his head. He couldn’t watch. He couldn’t do _anything_.

“Hey!”

Ansem paused, knife finally pointing at Axel’s chest and turned slowly as Kairi held up a chair, breathing heavily. She screamed and smacked him with the chair, hard enough that Ansem collapsed onto the floor.

Everyone who had been held by Ansem fell to the ground. Sora let out a sob of relief, still clutching his arm as Kairi dropped the chair and rushed to his side, with Axel and Mickey only moments behind her. Kairi grabbed his shoulders to try and steady him, and Sora could see what looked like rope burns on her arms. How had she managed to break out of Ansem’s restraints?

Mickey started rummaging through the bag that Sora had forgotten Minnie had given him and turned to Axel.

“Hold his arm steady,” Mickey said, as he uncorked a bottle. “This is going to hurt.”

Axel gave Sora an apologetic wince and grabbed at his arm, trying to not flinch when Sora shouted. Kairi, finally seeing what was happening, grabbed his other arm and held him still.

“Come on, Sora,” she said through gritted teeth. “It’s going to fix you!”

After a lot of scuffling and Sora almost kicking Axel, Mickey managed to get Sora to drink the Potion. There was a soft green light around his arm and the barest hint of pain, but even that was beginning to fade away.

Eventually, Mickey nodded, and Axel gently released Sora’s arm. Sora tucked his arm against his chest, moving at his fingers and staring in awe. Those Potions Minnie had cooked up were no joke.

Demyx looked down at Ansem and looked fearful regardless. “Is he… dead?” He asked in a whisper.

There was a loud laugh, and most of them turned to the noise. Axel continued to glare down at Ansem’s unconscious body.

“Now that was an amazing show,” Hades said, standing as he continued clapping. “Bravo. Ingenious! I really enjoyed watching you pull yourself from your restraints, princess. When they say Princess of Heart, they really mean it,” he said, nodding towards Kairi. “And nice attempt to break through his mind control, Sora. Pity it failed so badly.”

“What the fuck,” Larxene said, clutching the knife that had almost carved Axel’s heart out. “What is going on?”

“Aren’t you gonna try and kill us?” Goofy said, standing protectively in front of Mickey.

Hades shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh, I don’t really care. The witch you killed off before was why I was stuck in this mess, but if she’s really gone, I’m good. And Ansem was the one I was really worried about. But it looks like you took care of that.”

“What’s gonna happen to him?” Donald said, his shirt looking a lot worse for the wear.

“Goodness,” Hades said, tapping at his chin. “And here I thought children still learned their history?”

Everyone looked vaguely confused when Kairi gave a gasp. Sora turned to her, minding his newly healed arm, when she said, “The Internal Struggle, as seen by Terra and Xehanort? Some said that Terra just went insane, but Aqua insisted that he’d fought Xehanort in his mind and, well, lost. Are you saying that’s what’s happening between Riku and Ansem?”

“Got it in one,” Hades said, giving her a wink. “If Ansem really is stronger, then yeah. Ansem will probably take control and kill you all.”

Larxene scoffed. “I’m not letting that happen,” she said and knelt down. From how her knives were positioned, she was probably planning to stab Riku. Before she could, Sora move in the way. “Sora,” she said, sounding annoyed. “Please don’t make me explain why having Ansem wake up is a _bad fucking idea_. Do you want another body part to be broken again?”

“But Riku could win,” Sora protested. He knew his argument was weak, hell, his _voice_ was weak considering how much he’d been screaming, but he couldn’t just give up. Riku was right there and yeah, Ansem might win and kill them all, but if Riku won… If it was Riku that woke up…

“But it might not be!” Demyx argued, moving to hand Larxene her other knife. She nodded in appreciation.

“Please, you can’t. If it is Riku and…” Sora fixed her a look. “Please, Larxene. Give if a few hours?”

Larxene gave him a long stare and Sora tried to put as much pleading into his facial expression as he could. After a while, she sighed, and lowered the knives. “We’re tying him up,” she said, shaking her head. “And if there’s even a flicker of orange eyes, I’ll stab him right in the face.”

“I’d do it,” Kairi said, as Sora moved back. “If what he says is true and Ansem wins… I don’t think Riku would want to let that monster continue to roam around in his body.”

Axel had stayed quiet since Sora was healed, but he stepped forward, eyes narrowed. “You,” Axel said, glaring at Hades. “You were there when Roxas was hurt, weren’t you? Why won’t he wake up?”

Sora blinked, turned up to look at Hades as the blue haired monster just shrugged. “I don’t know the witches powers. She had only been interested in how bright and shiny Sky-boy was, but after blondie got the whammy, she became obsessed. Almost like his shiny, stupid heart got even stronger.” Axel scowled and moved closer and Hades held his hands up. “Whoa, whoa relax sparky. I can set your ass on fire, in case you _forgot_. But the witch was always one for dramatics. Did you try true love’s kiss?”

Hades started making kissing noises and Axel let out something like a roar, and moved to punch him. With a trick of the light, Hades stepped aside and was at the door to the penthouse before Axel’s hit could connect.

“But hey,” Hades said, tossing a vial. Demyx was the one who ended up catching it, considering Axel was still glaring and Sora didn’t trust his arm. “If that doesn’t work, try this. I mean, I’m not a complete monster. I just like having a little fun, you know?”

He was almost out of the door when Sora scrambled to his feet. “What should we do about Riku?” Sora said. His voice was so close to pleading but he just pushed past that. “There has to be something we can do besides just _waiting_.”

Hades looked at the group again, before shrugging. “It’s like the blonde said,” Hades said, turning and heading out the door. “If his eyes are orange, kill him.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're wrapping up! After this chapter, two more and then it's all over! I'll save my sappy goodbyes until then.
> 
> (Also yes, the chapter count is final. Promise. I'm polishing the next chapter and writing the final as we speak. Well, not literally. Cause as we speak is me typing th-- you know what I mean.)
> 
> Also so sorry this took a little while to get up. Last week was..............interesting.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

No one moved for a long, long time before Goofy finally looked around at all the fallen Heartless and said, “There are lots of unconscious guys and gals. Maybe we should skedaddle?”

And everyone looked around, shrieked, and then fled the building.

Before they went to Axel's apartment, they stopped by the student health center to drop Riku off, leaving an anonymous tip that he should _probably_ be sent to a hospital.

“What if he wakes up in the hospital and it’s _Ansem?_ ” Donald asked as Axel dropped him on a chair. “Are we going to let him wreck havoc?”

“No,” Axel said, turning and heading out the door. “But I would rather make sure Roxas is okay before bringing Riku anywhere near him.”

“You’d put Roxas's safety before everyone in a hospital?” Donald shrieked and Axel gave him a long look.

“I’d put Roxas before everyone,” he said as he walked away.

As everyone filed out, Kairi pulled Larxene aside. Sora watched as the two of them talked, but Larxene shook her head, tucking her knives into her coat pocket.

“What was that all about?” Sora said, as he walked up to Kairi. She frowned, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

“I asked if I could borrow her knives,” she said with a sigh. “She said that if I need to, a pillow would be an easier method.”

Sora almost asked for what, but he turned, seeing Riku unconscious on the chair next to him. “What are we going to tell nurses if he wakes up with orange eyes? Take him out?” he asked, voice edging on skeptical. Student Health may have been lax, but they generally drew the line at straight-up murder.

With a grim smile, Kairi shook her head. “I’m going to stick around. If it is him, he’ll need a friendly face. If it’s not…” she sighed, and gripped her hand into a fist. “I'll do the honors.”

“I should—” Sora started, but Kairi cut him off.

“Sora. I know you care, so very, very much. But you need to make sure your brother is okay. Besides…” she rubbed her arm, a little awkwardly. “Riku’s been my best friend since we were kids. If I can’t pull him back from this… I probably don’t deserve the title.”

Sora wanted to protest. He did, so badly. He wanted to be there when Riku woke up and he wanted to assure her that things were okay now. But Kairi had a point, punctuated more when Axel knocked on the window and told him to hurry up.

With a sigh, Sora nodded, and quickly gave her a hug. “You’ll let me know when he wakes up?” He asked quietly.

He felt her nod against his shoulder. “The minute he does,” she said. She leaned back with a frown. “Well, if he _is_ Ansem, I might have to smother him, so maybe within the hour?”

He gave a grim smile and walked out of Student Health.

\--

Axel was in the middle of unlocking the door to his apartment when it suddenly opened. Jasmine stared at the whole group, scanning everyone over, before her gaze landed on Sora, and tugging him forward for a hug.

“Minnie told me what was going on,” she said, as Sora choked as her arms grew even tighter around him. “Oh, I am _so_ sorry I was no help!”

“If you’re awake...” Axel trailed off, practically shoving past her to move into the living room. The rest of them followed, but Sora had to politely wiggle past Jasmine in order to see.

But when he finally got there, there was no point. Roxas was still unconscious on the couch. Axel was kneeling beside him, head resting near Roxas’s shoulder.

Minnie was sitting on the opposite arm of the couch, frowning deeply. “Jasmine woke up all of a sudden, maybe a few hours ago?” she said, sliding off the couch and moving towards Sora. She grabbed his arm, looked it over and her frown deepened. “Goodness. My Potions aren’t as strong as I would like,” she mumbled, before muttering some of that strange language from before.

Sora’s arm glowed green and something shifted for the better. He nodded in thanks as she moved over to Mickey, where she gave a huff.

“And _you_ promised me you wouldn’t use magic!” she said, scowling.

“Aw, shucks Minnie!” Mickey said, as she rested her hands on his forehead. “I had to do my best.”

“Wait, even _you_ took Darkness?” Larxene asked, skeptical. “I thought that shit was dangerous as hell. What was this, a free for all?”

“We know it is now,” Minnie said simply.

“That’s all fine and fucking dandy,” Axel said, voice tinged with a dangerous edge. “But why the fuck isn’t Roxas awake? We already defeated Ansem! Shouldn't that have been enough?” But then he froze, climbing to his feet and heading to the door. “If we killed Riku, then Ansem would be _completely_ dead, correct?” Sora stepped in his path but Axel looked down at him, eyes blazing. “Sora. Don’t tell me that you’d really put Riku’s life above your brothers. Because if you do, we’re going to have a fucking problem.”

Sora didn’t, he really didn’t. And seeing Roxas still lying there, still unconscious after all this time, was making him want to just fall to his knees and cry. But seeing Axel’s untapped fury and rage terrified him, and he wasn’t going to let him just murder Riku. Especially since Kairi had already offered to take on that difficult task.

“Wait,” Demyx offered, reaching into his pockets. “What about this stuff?” He squinted at the vial that Hades had thrown him. “Phoenix Down? The fuck does that mean?”

Minnie plucked the bottle out of his hands. “From what my studies say, it might have regenerative powers!” she exclaimed. She kneeled besides Roxas, tilting his mouth open. “Maybe, with a bit of luck…”

And they waited. Axel stared down at Sora, and Sora kept blocking Axel, refusing to let him get a step farther. They were all waiting for Minnie’s positive reaction, or Roxas’s voice or something.

But when Sora looked over to see Minnie frowning, his eyes widened. Axel must have noticed, because he tried to shove past Sora once move. “ _Move_ ,” he hissed.

Sora stood his ground. “Try that stupid thing Hades said,” Sora pleaded, keeping his arms wide. “True love’s kiss or whatever!”

“I don’t have time for these dumb games, Sora!” Axel shouted, trying to shove Sora aside again. “Get out of my way!”

“He’s my brother too, you asshole!” Sora snapped. He shoved Axel back, kind of glad to almost knock Axel off his feet. But after the shitty days Sora had been having, he was getting a little tired of being pushed around by everyone again and again and _again_. “And no matter how fucking heroic you think you are, if you straight up _murder_ Riku for him and it doesn't work,  _just like everything else_ , Roxas would never forgive you!”

“Yeah, but at least we would’ve tried something!” Axel shot back, towering over him.

“I’m not going to let you hunt down Riku to kill him,” Sora continued, standing up as straight as possible. “Not until we’ve tried everything. Even if Roxas is more important to both of us, _I_ want to save Riku. And you know that for what we’ve been through, he’s been through _worse_.” Axel continued to glare down at him, but maybe his glare lowered in intensity.

Either way, Sora pushed on. “So please. Just _try_ okay?” He lowered his voice, noticing that they had an audience listening in. “Axel, I know you’re mad at me for even talking to Riku and putting Roxas and all of us this position. I know this is _all_ my fault. But please. Just… try.”

Axel squeezed his eyes shut and grumbled under his breath. “Goddammit, Sora,” he said, rubbing his hands over his face. “I don’t blame you, okay?” He let out a huff “And you know that fucking kicked puppy look always works, no matter what.”

“So you’ll try?” Sora asked. He didn’t know why he was being so insistent because this wasn’t going to work. Normal medicine and magic hadn’t healed his brother, so why would a fairy tale trope help?

Maybe _because_ it was a fairy tale trope, would things actually work out? Hopefully. Maybe. And mainly because nothing _else_ was working and he didn’t know what else they could do.

Axel didn’t respond, instead just spinning on his heel and storming over to the couch. He practically shoved Demyx out of the way as he did. “This is so stupid,” Axel grumbled. “But fine Sora. I will do this, and _then_ I will hunt Riku down and I will slit his throat if that’ll save Roxas.”

With that, Axel leaned over and kissed Roxas on the lips.

Sora suddenly doubled over in pain, unable to even keep his eyes open. Vaugly, it reminded him of when Riku—Ansem. When Ansem had electrocuted him in that weird pod thing, but not as intense.

Though, to be fair, it was still _pretty_ bad.

If he was the poetic type, he would’ve said that it felt like something inside of him was being ripped away. And like, deep in his heart, he knew that piece had never belonged there and that it had to go back, but did it hurt as if left. But he  _wasn't_ that poetic, and even if he was, he was too busy trying not to scream out loud in pain then to wax poetry. 

When he could finally open his eyes, Goofy and Donald were standing over him, looking concerned. He could also see Roxas’s sitting up, trying to fight past Axel to get off the couch.

Roxas… was up. Roxas was awake and moving and possibly was going to bean his boyfriend upside the head, but who _cared_ , because Roxas was awake!

“Roxas!” Sora shouted, stumbling over his own two feet, Goofy, Donald, and a table to make his way over to the couch. Roxas stopped trying to leap past Axel and grabbed Sora into a tight hug, holding him close.

“What the hell?” He said, mostly in Sora’s ear. “Last thing I remember, Riku and that weird sharp cheekbone lady were arguing and someone… I don’t remember who, but someone sneezed and gave away our position…”

(Donald, Sora noticed, subtly hid behind Goofy.)

Roxas pulled back, before fondly rolling his eyes and wiping a tear off of Sora’s face. Sora blinked and rubbed at his eyes. Had Sora been crying? He couldn’t actually tell, but who cared, because it was Roxas making fun of him. His brother was _back_.

“What happened?” Roxas echoed, looking between Sora and Axel. Roxas winced when he saw Axel’s face, and Sora looked over. Axel looked this mixture of mystified, and hurt and worried and damn confused, all wrapped into one. Roxas frowned, crossing his arms. “How long was I out?”

Axel and Sora exchanged glances, as Demyx helpfully piped in, “A couple of days. And Riku tried to kill us all. And we all almost died, but you know. No big deal.”

Sora resisted the urge to roll his eyes, because that was _so_ helpful. Really explained the situation perfectly.

Roxas grumbled and made to move off the couch. “Dammit, Riku. I should go to talk to him and—”

“No.”

Roxas froze as Axel grabbed his hands. “What do you mean, ‘no?’” Roxas repeated, raising an eyebrow. “I’m an adult, I can—”

“I have been through a lot the past couple of days.” Axel interjected, voice quiet. “All for you. And that’s fine, normally, but Roxas. I thought you were dead. I…” he stopped and took a breath and tried again. “They healed you and fixed you up but you weren’t waking up and I thought I’d never see you again. I thought I’d have to push you out of my mind like we did with Xion.”

Roxas’s face crumpled. “I didn’t mean…” he stammered clenching his hands into fists. “I had to save my brother. He’s done some dumb stuff, but he’s my brother.”

“Oh, I know about his dumb stuff alright. I really do,” Axel grumbled, before grabbing Roxas’s arm and gently tugging him forward. “You don’t do shit like that without me _ever_ again, okay?”

He didn’t give Roxas a chance to answer before pulling him into a kiss.

Sora awkwardly inched away from them, and moved over to Mickey. His chest still ached, and he was a little confused. Plus, as excited as he was for them, he really didn’t need to watch Axel and Roxas making out. Augh. Not at all.

“Hey, Minnie was that some weird side effect from your healing?” Sora asked. “My chest got this weird pain and…” he tried off as he realized Micky and Minnie were staring at him. “What?”

Minnie gave a small smile. “No wonder your brother couldn’t wake up. He was busy protecting you this entire time.”

Sora blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Are you sayin’ that when Maleficent attacked them, Roxas’s soul went into Sora in order to protect him?” Goofy offered, and Mickey nodded.

Sora blinked again. Somehow, that made literally no sense and yet…

No, no it didn’t. No sense was made. But nothing the past few weeks had really made sense at all.

Demyx shrugged. “You know what,” he said, moving towards his bedroom. “In the last few days, we fought a dragon, a guy filled with _bugs_ , a sea witch, someone who had been body swapped, and Axel woke up an unconscious dude with True Love’s Kiss. I believe anything now.”

“Where are you doing?” Donald squawked and Demyx peeked his head out of his room.

“Well,” he said, looking disappointed. “We were _not_ maimed in the epic attack of the century and that means my professor won’t take my death certificate instead of a midterm assignment. I gotta get cracking. I may believe in monsters, but I don’t believe in my GPA if I blow off this project.”

With that, Demyx shut the door.

“Roxas,” Axel said, leaning back and smiling up at him. “I love you, you know?”

Roxas squirmed and awkwardly waved a hand towards Sora. “Yeah, I know. Sora, come over here and tell me all about this body swapping and dragon fighting and Riku _trying to kill you_.”

Axel shot Sora a dark look and Sora took the hint and did not move an inch. “What I’m trying to say,” Axel said, gripping Roxas’s hands tightly. Roxas winced. “Is that in these past few days, I realized that a life without you would really be empty and lonely and it would fucking _suck_.”

Roxas nodded. “Thank you Axel. Now, Sora?”

Axel grabbed Roxas’s face and turned so that they were facing each other, eye to eye. “What I mean,” Axel said bluntly. “Will you marry me?”

Roxas nodded without really looking, before turning back to Sora. “Sora, would you…” He trailed off, as Axel’s words sunk in. “Wait,” he said, eyes wide. “What?!”

Axel grinned, leaning his forehead against Roxas’s. “I love you,” he repeated. “And I almost had my fucking heart cut out for you because your brother’s love of picking up strays to befriend. I like to think that would make me one of the family. But I never want you out of my life ever. _God,_ I kept thinking you were gone and I can’t do that again and…”

“Yes you dweeb,” Roxas said, beaming. “That is possibly the worst marriage proposal _ever_ but yes. Yes, yes, I will marry you.”

Axel grinned and then they kissed and it was perfect. (Even Demyx came back out of his room to congratulate them, minus the tears streaming down his face over how much work he had to catch up. Or maybe they were tears of joy. Who really knew.)

And Sora was so happy. Really, he was. Because, well, his brother was _here_ and happy and everything was _good_.

Before running over and hugging the couple, he quickly shot Kairi a text, before tucking his phone into his pocket and watching the scene unfold in front of him.

“Sora!” He looked up, and Roxas waved him over again. “Come on, you are in _big_ trouble over your friend choices. Just because I was unconscious doesn’t mean I can’t scold you now.”

There was a knock at the door and when Goofy went to open it, Aladdin was there, looking incredibly exhausted. But his expression changed completely when he saw Jasmine, and she leapt into his arms.

The joy and the happiness in Axel’s apartment was practically tangible.

After a while, Sora slipped away from all the happy couples and stepped into the kitchen, checking his phone. He was hoping for some good news, heck, _any_ news at all, but all he got from Kairi was _“He’s still not awake.”_

But it was okay. Sora was happy. His brother was back. That would have to be enough, for now.

Sora ignored the tugging on his heart and joined his brother on the couch, forcing himself to smile.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY guess what!! The story is all finished. Well, like, it’s been written. I’m working on editing it so I can upload it asap!!!
> 
> Also so sorry for the delay from uploading. Life has been………. Interesting. I think I said that last time but, strangely enough, it has become MORE interesting. Goodness me.

After a few days of hearing absolutely nothing from Kairi, Sora decided to stop by her dorm room. He had planned to just sneak out of his room and stop by, but it happened to be the one day that Roxas had slipped into their room for a change of clothes.

Long story short, Roxas called Axel, who called Demyx and Larxene, as well as giving a call to Goofy and Donald, and instead of Sora going visiting Kairi alone, he had a friggen’ entourage.

(Well okay. Demyx had shrieked “Hell no!" before slamming his door shut and Larxene just laughed and laughed, so it wasn’t _too_ many people, but still, it was a lot more than he wanted to deal with.)

It wasn’t like Sora didn’t appreciate being able to spend time with his brother. He had been spending the past few days sleeping on Axel’s couch because Axel wasn’t about to let Roxas out of his sight. And Sora knew he didn’t want to be alone in his dorm room just yet.

He hadn’t really been able to sleep much anyway. Whenever Sora closed his eyes, he still could see those horrifying orange glowing eyes staring back at him. Or even worse, the phantom snapping of his arm which caused him to wake up in a cold sweat more than once. So it was really quite nice being close to people he cared about even in his inability to sleep.

…And considering how much sex Roxas and Axel had been having in the past few days, Sora wouldn’t have been able to sleep even if he had wanted to. There were sounds his brother had made that Sora could’ve lived six lifetimes without _ever_ hearing.

Either way, when Sora knocked on Kairi and Riku’s dorm room, she opened the door, a small backpack slung over her shoulder. When she saw the crowd, she blinked and glanced at all of them, a small smile forming on her face.

“Roxas,” she said, lowering her backpack to the ground and stepping forward. “You’re awake!”

Roxas accepted the hug with a nod, before glancing into the room. “Is…” he started, turning back to Sora.

Sora didn’t want to politely push past Kairi to see if Riku was home, mainly because he didn’t have to. Riku’s side of the room was empty, bed neatly made. It didn’t look like anyone had been there in weeks.

A quick glance to Kairi confirmed what Sora had thought, and he lowered his head with a sigh.

“He’s still in the hospital,” she said, grabbing her bad again and adjusting the straps of her backpack. “I was actually just heading over.”

“What’s the bag for?” Donald said from his spot in the back of the group.

Kairi shrugged. “I have a paper due in a few days,” she said with a frown. “I haven’t really had the chance to work on it. Not with everything that’s been going on.”

Even if he had nothing he could do to pass the time, Sora made up his mind that he was going to go with Kairi. Roxas grabbed his arm, holding him back. “What?” Sora said. Roxas raised his eyebrows and Sora winced. He hadn’t realized how snarl like his voice had become.

Roxas pulled back, rubbing at his arm. “Kairi,” he said, with a sigh. “I was caught up on what happened—” She winced but he kept going, expression earnest.. “But how are you doing?”

There was a long pause, long enough that Axel tugged at Roxas’s arms. “Hey, maybe we should just go,” he said quietly, giving Roxas a look.

“Bad,” Kairi finally said. “Riku’s family won’t stop calling and I’m the only point person for Riku. No one so far can explain Riku’s injuries and I’m not going into detail, and …” She lowered her head. “My best friend is in a coma and it’s just been me.” She let out a deep sigh, readjusting the bag on her shoulder. “So if you excuse me, I’ll be heading out. I’ve already been away for too long.”

Before Kairi could make a step forward, Sora was already wrapping her in a hug. “I’m sorry,” he said, holding her tightly.

He couldn’t see her face but he could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “Silly, I know you’ve been busy.”

He knew he couldn’t add anything that wasn’t filled, so he just kept holding her tightly, lowering his head to her shoulder.

\--

The rest of the semester, Sora divided his time between Axel’s apartment, class, and Riku’s bedside along with Kairi.

He still hated to be in his dorm room alone. He was probably losing money on how little he and Roxas were spending there.

The doctors must've thought that the entire thing was really quite crazy. Riku’s body was supplying all the nutrients he needed and one guy, a Dr. Merlin (Sora wasn’t going to look into that, nope, nope nope), said that it was “Very all Sleeping Beauty!” Sora couldn’t help but stare at the good doctor in confusion but he was glad no one was trying to kidnap Riku’s body for science or anything like that.

Mickey stopped by once with Minnie in tow and they both looked just so very… sad. “The drugs should be all outta his system!” Mickey exclaimed. “I just don’t understand how he’s not awake already

Minnie just held his hand. “Just give it time. He’ll wake up soon.”

Sora and Kairi just exchanged glances.

But days and weeks passed and suddenly finals were fast approaching. Riku’s parents came to visit one day, and the only reason Sora even knew was because he’d been studying in a corner and had awkwardly gaped when they strolled in.

They were… tall. Important. And strangely, utterly not interested in what was happening in front of them. His father swept in, looked down at his son, sighed, and swept out. Riku’s mother, at least, gently touched his head before following her husband out the door.

They hadn’t even noticed Sora in the room at all.

During finals week, Sora and Kairi began to trade off shifts as to who would sit with Riku. But with how busy they were becoming, with projects and papers and so many other things to do, the schedule as to who would visit became frantic. Sora was afraid that Riku would wake up during the time he wasn’t around, and he didn’t know exactly _why_ he was so afraid.

He didn’t know which scenario was worse - Riku waking up alone, sacred and not knowing what was going on, or that Ansem would wake up, vengeful and angry.

Either way, Sora did his best to get there, but one day Kairi texted him that she was leaving Riku’s room and Sora was stuck in the middle of finalizing a group assignment. He didn’t even try to weasel his way out (far too many points rested on the final grade of this assignment) but he did everything in his power to make the project move along faster. As soon as they wrapped up for the night, Sora sped out of the library and ran for Riku’s hospital room.

He got scolded for running in the halls, but as he skidded down the Riku’s hallway, he faintly could hear someone talking inside. He stopped at the door, staring as his eyes attempted to comprehend that _Roxas_ was sitting next to Riku’s bed, grumbling something towards Riku.

Roxas must have felt the disturbance in the air, because he stopped talking and looked up to Sora. “Well,” Roxas said, by way of greeting. “You weren’t here. And Kairi said you weren’t going to be here for a while.”

Sora continued to stare at his brother as Roxas tugged another chair over to the bed with his foot and nodded towards it.

“I didn’t think you’d ever willingly sit beside him,” Sora said. He plopped down into the chair with an exhausted sigh.

“Neither did I,” Roxas said.

They sat in silence for a long while before Sora made the move to grab some of his notes from his backpack. After the long team meeting he’d just sprinted from, Sora really wasn’t in the mood for the scolding from his brother. Not today.

But Roxas held out his hand as Sora started to pull out his laptop. “Sora,” Roxas said. His tone was far gentler than Sora was expecting and that made him tense up immediately. “What’s going to happen if he wakes up?”

Sora let out a sigh, and leaned back in his chair. “I dunno. Hopefully it’ll be Riku, and if he’s 100% back to himself, we’ll make sure that he’s surrounded by friends and…” he scowled a little. Roxas’s expression hadn’t changed. “I know, I shouldn’t go anywhere near him, but I’m not just going to _leave_ him, Roxas. I know he’s… weird and a little creepy but beneath it all, he’s a really nice guy and—”

Sora was becoming more and more uncomfortable, because Roxas’s sad little smile still hadn’t moved. Sora was kind of hoping that… it would. Eventually. Sooner than later. Even Roxas yelling at him would be better than the pity that was clearly showing.

“But Sora,” Roxas said. “What are you going to do if he doesn’t wake up?”

Sora paused. “I…” he started, but closed his mouth again. “I … He will?”

Roxas continued to stare at Sora. “But if he doesn’t?”

The silence in the room was so heavy that one could probably hear a feather fall. Sora just stared at Riku with his hands clenched into fists, before they dropped at his sides. “I… don’t know. He has to wake up,” Sora said.

He could practically hear the pity in Roxas’s voice as his brother turned to face him. “Sora…”

“No,” Sora said. His hands were beginning to hurt at how tightly he was clenching them. “No, Riku _has_ to wake up because if he doesn’t…” Sora exhaled, hating how shaky his voice was. “Roxas, if he doesn’t wake up, it’s all my fault.”

“Wait, how?” Roxas said. “You didn’t tell him to take that –”

“If we hadn’t followed him to the Castle, he wouldn’t have had to take it,” Sora said, cutting his brother off. “You wouldn’t have gotten hurt, Axel wouldn’t been so… reluctant to let you out of his sight because of what happened, but you both are fine now and that’s so…” Sora sighed. “Roxas, I’m so happy you’re okay, but this is all my fault! If I hadn’t talked to Riku in the first place, none of this would’ve happened!”

He didn’t even hear Roxas stand but suddenly Roxas was there, wrapping his arms around Sora, who was trying really, really hard not to cry.

“Roxas,” Sora said, voice coming out more like a whimper. He coughed, trying to clear his throat, but it didn’t help. “Roxas, I could’ve gotten you all killed because I thought some guy was hot and I was _selfish_ and…”

“You,” Roxas said, interrupting Sora’s train of thought. “Are way, way too nice to everyone you meet. You are _not_ selfish, and thinking someone is attractive isn’t selfish, you dork. It just so happens that you stumbled into something way bigger than anyone thought. And you don’t have to throw yourself to the wolves for every single person who crosses your path.” Sora let out a sniff as Roxas kept going. “Besides. You’re far too good for Riku anyway."

“When he wakes up,” Sora said, and then squeezed his eyes shut. “If he wakes up, I mean, you’re never going to let him forget that, will you?”

Roxas hugged him tighter and nodded. “ _When_ he wakes up,” Roxas echoed, “I never will.”

\--

A day or so before finals began, Sora stared at his notes, eyes blurring as he read the same words for the millionth time. After a long while, he finally slamming his laptop shut. He looked up to Riku, half hopeful, but he wasn’t that dense. Just because Sora was at the end of his rope didn’t mean Riku would magically wake up.

He stared at the silver haired boy, who continued to breathe evenly. With a sigh, Sora leaned his elbows onto the bed and stared.

He vaguely remembered Kairi had said that he should try talking to Riku, and seeing that he had given up on the thing called “studying” (seriously, his brain felt like it was going to leak out of his damn ears), he tilted his head, and just… started talking.

Maybe it was a good thing Riku was out of it. Poor guy would’ve probably wanted to stuff his ears. But after all Sora had been through, he had a lot to say, okay?

“I still can’t believe that talking to some random guy in the commons lead to all this. I mean, sure, you’re cute, but magic? Kidnapping? Dragons?!” Sora leaned back in the chair. “You’re damn lucky you’re so attractive. And have good friends. Like, Kairi has been here _all damn semester_. I don’t think I’ve seen her sleep in weeks! Riku, I swear to god, if you weren’t already knocked out, I’d smack you myself.”

And then Sora went quiet and ran a hand through his hair. God, he was so tired.

“Riku,” he started again, voice quieter. “Riku, you really scared me. Both with your weird ass breaking in and what happened to you. And… I guess, when Ansem took over.” After hesitating for a bit, Sora reached forward, grabbing Riku’s hand, squeezing it. “Cause, that was terrifying. I… can’t actually sleep much, anymore after that. Which is great when it comes to studying!” he let out a small laugh, before going quiet.

“I really like you,” Sora said, before shaking his head. “Let me say that again. I liked you when I knew you, weeks ago, and I liked you enough to want to fight for you against all odds when things when to hell. And you’ve made Kairi cry. You’re even making Roxas upset and you _know_ how much he doesn’t like you.”

Riku kept breathing evenly and Sora sighed.

“Point is, you have friends to come back to,” Sora added, leaning closer. “You have people who you can trust and who will have your back so you don’t have to do stupid shit like kidnap people or hurt others or take shifty ass drugs to get ahead.” Sora went quiet, and then mumbled, a little bitterly, “Well. I guess being friends is okay. I mean, we only had one kiss. And I was kind of hoping that maybe we could have more…”

Sora trailed off, staring at Riku for a long, long time. Wait a minute. Wait just a damn minute, that wasn’t… that couldn’t happen.

Then again, Hades had suggested a kiss to wake up Roxas, and look at what happened. And it wasn’t like the doctors hadn’t tried everything else.

But besides. After dealing with magic and possession and god knew what else, what the hell did Sora have to loose.

He sucked in a deep breath and leaned forward, until his face was right in front of Riku’s. “This better work,” Sora said, mainly to himself. “Because I don’t know what else to do.”

And with that, Sora squeezed his eyes closed and kissed Riku on the lips.

This kiss, unlike their previous one, left a lot to be desired. Mainly with one person being conscious – that would’ve helped out.

But when Sora felt no movement, he sighed, and leaned back in his seat. “Well,” he said to himself, moving to grab his notes. “That was dumb.”

He sat there, flipping through his notes, with one hand holding Riku’s. There had to be something they hadn’t tried, and maybe after finals, he and Kairi could really look into it…

Riku’s hand twitched.

Sora paused on his studying and looked down to their hands. Except he didn’t really _need_ to, considering Riku’s hand, which had been limp for weeks, was squeezing back. It was gentle, but hell, it was _something._

Sora all but flung his notes aside and hopped onto the edge of the bed. “Riku?” He asked quietly, trying to note get his hopes up.

But as if on cue, Riku’s eyes fluttered open and he winced at the over head lights, squeezing his eyes shut. “Sora?” he asked, or well, more like croaked. “What…?”

Sora knew he shouldn’t tackle Riku, because that would be bad and Riku was just recovering but he prepped to, with a wide grin. But he stopped short, leaning on the edge of the bed. “Riku,” Sora said, trying to push the excitement from his voice. “Look at me.”

“What’s happening?” Riku asked, eyes still closed.

“Eyes,” Sora said. His hands started to ache from griping the bed guard so tightly. “I need to see your eyes. _Please_.”

After a long moment, Riku finally squinted open his eyes to look at Sora. His beautiful aquamarine eyes.

Not orange.

Not _Ansem_.

“Riku!” Sora shouted, and actually tackled Riku back onto the bed. “Oh my god, you’re awake! That worked! I have to call Kairi and Roxas, you’re _here_ and…”

“Whoa, Sora, stop,” Riku said, hands firmly pushing Sora away. Or well, Sora could understand their intent, because Riku’s push was a light as a kitten’s.

But Sora moved back, confusion etched on his face. “Riku, you’re awake! I have to tell the others!”

“Please call Kairi,” Riku said, looking down. Sora was still so excited that Riku was awake that it was taking a moment to realize Riku didn’t seem… okay. “And then I need you to leave.”

They both were silent for a long moment as Riku’s words registered in Sora’s mind. “Wait,” Sora said, smile still frozen on his face. He remembered dialing Kairi’s number but he wasn’t sure if he’d pressed send or not. “What?”

“You heard me,” Riku said, eyes still low. “Please leave.”

Sora shook his head. “No,” he said, moving closer to Riku. “No, that’s not _fair_. Do you know how hard I worked to save you? Riku, I … I don’t know if you heard me but I’m okay being just being friends. I just want to know that you’re okay.”

“I don’t,” Riku said. He finally raised his eyes and locked them with Sora’s. It was another stab because Riku’s eyes seemed completely fine. He was sane and all Riku, but it was Riku _himself_ throwing him out. “Want to be friends, that is. But then again, I have had a long time to consider this.”

“But...” Sora didn’t even know where to start, mind racing through thousands of possibilities. What had happened in that internal fight? Had Riku been planning this forever? “But _why_?”

Riku continued staring at him. “Because I fuck things up,” Riku said, voice a touch bit softer. “And I’ve already hurt you enough.”

“It wasn’t you!” Sora protested. “That’s not fair, if I hadn’t—”

But Riku kept going like he hadn’t been interrupted. “I’ve hurt you and your friends and I _can’t_ hurt you anymore. So please. Get _out_.”

“Riku…” Sora tried again. But then, Riku started yelling.

“Help! Someone help me!” Riku shouted, face drawn tight in determination. “Get this man out of my room!”

Sora barely managed to throw his notes and textbooks into his backpack before a hoard of nurses and a doctor rushed into the room. Sora drew his backpack closer to his chest as a few of them grabbed his shoulders.

“Riku, come on, stop! Why would you do this?” Sora shouted. He regretted doing so immediately, because the gentle hands became very firm and they started to drag him. Sora never wanted to fight against nurses, but well, he did so anyway, struggling as they tried pulling him out of the room. “Riku, please! Why?! I thought we were friends! _Riku_!!”

But Riku didn’t respond. Before Sora was dragged out of the room, he saw Riku turn his head and face the wall.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay sooo this is the last official chapter! Guys, I still cannot believe anyone has gone through this crazy story with me, and I'm so happy that people have liked it!
> 
> Next is the epilogue and it's already written and should hopefully be up asap!
> 
> Again, thanks so much for sticking with this story, and all the sappy goodbyes and stuff at the end of next chapter. :D

It was by sheer luck that Sora managed to make it through finals. He had absolutely no idea if he passed or not but they were done. He barely even remembered going to the class and taking the damn test but at least was done. He was done. And he just need to keep his mind busy to keep moving forward.

But that was fine, because he still had a paper to write, and as he slogged through it, looking up dates and information about the Keyblade Wars, he tried to not think about how Riku and he had discussed them when the first met. Or in the section about Terra and how Xehanort tried to manipulate him, Sora tried to not think about how Riku had been possessed and how he had to fight in his mind for control back.

Or, even when Sora would stretch, tired from working on his paper, he would suddenly think back to how Riku – no, Ansem – had thrown him and or where he’d slipped on glass or…

This just kept going on and on and _on_ until the papers were done and the tests were complete and suddenly Sora had nothing to distract himself with anymore. He found himself sitting silently, blankly staring at the wall.

Axel peeked down at Sora, who was snuggled into the couch, not moving very much. “I told you we should’ve killed Riku when we had the chance,” Axel called back to the kitchen.

There was a crash and loud footsteps and Sora felt more than saw his brother approaching. “Axel, I swear to god,” Roxas said, before peaking over the couch as well. “Do you need anything, Sora?”

Sora gave a half hearted shrug. “I’m fine,” he said simply.

Roxas and Axel exchanged glances before heading back towards the kitchen, talking in low tones.

It felt as though winter break had just started and Sora was already sick of it. He and Roxas had been kicked out of the dorms the very millisecond that their finals had ended, and neither of them were up to going home immediately. Sora knew he’d have to leave campus eventually but he didn’t think he was ready to do so. Not yet.

And considering Axel’s inability to let Roxas out of his sight, this plan seemed to work well for all of them. Well, except for anyone who wanted to use Axel’s couch without a moping Sora sprawled on it. They were just shit out of luck.

After he’d been kicked out of Riku’s room (and with all his yelling, the hospital), he’d stewed around in anger, not really sure of what to do. When he’d finally figured out what to do, he had gone straight to Kairi and Riku’s dorm, only to find a frowning Kairi shaking her head.

“He’s already left for break,” she had said, arms crossed. “He didn't say goodbye to me, either.”

Sora didn’t know whether to be angry or sad. Riku wasn’t picking up his phone, and eventually Sora’s calls went straight to voice mail. He probably could’ve actually _gone_ to Riku’s house if he was really up to it, but he wasn’t going to ask Kairi for that information. Not after he’d that little display.

Plus, did he really want to spend his winter break running after a guy who made his disdain for Sora so _incredibly_ clear?

So instead he just flopped onto Axel’s couch, continuing to stare up at the ceiling. Even Goofy and Donald had gone home for break. Mickey and Minnie too, from what Axel had mentioned.

All that was left was Axel, Roxas, and Sora.

Oh, and Demyx (who _hadn’t_ failed his composition class, much to his glee. And the glee of everyone who had to live with his panicked screeching for the past few weeks).

And speaking of Demyx, the blond plopped onto the couch beside Sora, giving the brunet a look. “After all this shit, you’re just going to let Riku go?” Demyx said with a sigh. “We almost died for him!”

Sora shrugged and turned away from Demyx. This wasn’t the first time Demyx had attempted to make small talk but, once again, Sora wasn’t really in the mood. 

He could hear Demyx huff and attempt to say something else, but Axel gave a warning growl from where he stood in the kitchen. Demyx sighed and climbed off the couch, only for Roxas to take his seat.

Sora rolled over until he was half in his brother’s lap. Roxas let out a soft sigh and patted Sora’s head. “You sure you don’t need anything?” Roxas said quietly. “Water? Food? Riku’s head on a stick?”

With a shrug, Sora looked up. “I’m fine, Roxas. Just… give me a few days, okay?”

Roxas didn’t respond, instead choosing to card his hands through Sora’s hair without another word. If Sora just snuggled closer to his brother, neither of them said anything about it.

\--

Winter break went by both incredibly quickly and so, so slowly. Sora wanted to get back to campus so he could try to find Riku, but as the break went by and he heard nothing, he kind of started to lose hope.

He and Roxas made their way home for the remainder of the break. But it seemed to only make the separation between him and Riku just that much greater.

He made sure to call Kairi at least once a week of their month long break and she sounded torn. From what she’d seen, Riku was apparently doing better. But he could tell she was holding back information and was trying to not betray her friend’s trust.

“But he’s… good?” Sora asked. He heard Kairi hum faintly in the background as he tucked his knees to his chest. If he clutched at the phone a little tighter, well than was neither here nor there.

“He’s doing a little okay. He’s a little quieter than before, and he …feels …” she trailed off. Sora lowered his head, feeling his stomach drop. “Sora, I don’t want to get caught in the middle of you two.”

“No, I know. I just wanted to check in,” Sora said. “Anyway, I have to—”

“Sora, he does really feel bad,” Kairi said, before Sora could hastily hang up the phone. “He does, I know he must. I just…” She sighed. “I’ll see what I can do to get you guys to meet when we’re back on campus, okay?”

“Yeah,” Sora said. When the phone went silent, Sora checked and saw that Kairi had hung up. With a frustrated growl, he resisted the urge the chuck his phone across the room, and instead did what he was currently doing best.

Which was why Roxas found him curled up on the couch, staring at the wall hours after the phone call. “Sora,” Roxas said with a sigh. “Come on. Mom and Dad are getting really worried about you.”

“’m fine,” Sora mumbled. He grumbled a bit as Roxas nudged over so he could sit down as well. “I don’t need you to baby me. I won’t talk to strangers. I won’t do anything except go to and from classes—”

“Sora,” Roxas said. “Shut up.”

Sora sat in silence for a while, before adding, “It’ll be fine. I’ll just hang with you guys. I barely knew Riku before, and I don’t need to know him now.”

Roxas let out a sigh. “I know you’re mad. Hell, I’m mad, and I kind of agree with the asshole. He is super dangerous and being around him did get you and people you care about hurt but if him not being around is going to drive you this far down…” Roxas let out another sigh that sounded suspiciously like a groan. “Then I’m sure we can confront him or something when we’re back at school. Make him own up or something."

“Careful now,” Sora mumbled into a couch cushion. “It almost sounds like you’re going easy on him.”

There was a rough hand on his shoulder and Sora let out a squawk as Roxas pulled him away from the couch and forced Sora to sit upright. Roxas looked so angry and frustrated and…sad. Sora did kind of feel like shit for making his brother feel like that, but hey. Misery loves company, right?

“Sora, I love you. And I don’t give a shit about him,” Roxas said. “But you do. Even after everything that has happened, you clearly care about him a lot. And its kind of killing me to see you like this. So if you really want to see him again, fine. We’ll try something. It might not work and he might still turn you away, but even I’m willing to try.” He shrugged, trying to go for nonchalant and instead just looking a little awkward.

With a small grin, Sora leaned forward and hugged Roxas, who, for once, didn’t shake him off. “Thanks,” he said and Roxas just shrugged again.

“Axel’s not going to like it.”

\--

And like it, Axel did not. He could hear the arguments over the phone as their break dwindled to a close, but Roxas stood firm and eventually, as always, Axel caved to him.

“Sora _has_ to be with us,” Axel argued when they finally arrived back on campus. Axel was giving Sora a lesser version of a death glare, but it was still intense as hell. “Don’t you dare run off and try to meet him without us. I swear to _god_ I will break your legs myself so you can’t even try.”

Roxas raised an eyebrow and Axel shook his head in response.

“I fought a _dragon_ for your brother over this guy. Not to mention what happened with you. I don’t want to know what else he has up his sleeve.”

But Sora still wasn’t able to get in contact with Riku. Between the stress of classes starting and Riku still not answering his phone, Sora had to keep pushing the set up of the meeting until it was almost completely out of his mind.

He didn’t push Riku out, obviously. He couldn’t, but with so many other things piling up, he did kind of push him to the bottom of the list.

A few months after classes had started, Sora was walking through the commons when he heard a shout. He paused, textbooks in hand, realizing that the voice sounded a _lot_ like a certain silver haired asshole who had been avoiding his calls. He could check it out. He should call up Roxas or Axel, or hell, _someone_ so that they could investigate.

But Sora, being Sora, snuck closer to the voice. He needed confirmation before he called anyone. Obviously.

“Fuck _off_ Hades, I thought I’d never have to see you here again!”

Sora’s eyes widened and he was already hurrying to the spot before his mind could process it. Hades?! Here? Oh, no no no.

He knew he needed to call Roxas, Axel, hell _anyone_. If this turned out anyway like it did last time, he was going to end up with a possessed friend and a really, _really_ bad situation but he still rushed forward. He half wanted to believe it was because he was trying to do the right thing, but he knew, deep down, it was because Riku was here. Riku was _here_ , just a few feet away from him and he couldn’t just walk away, knowing that he might not have this chance again.

Sora knew he was weak, but knowing was half the battle, right?

But as he rounded the corner, half expecting to see a repeat from months ago, he instead saw Riku standing beside a guy with spiky black hair, eyes narrowed. Hades, on the other hand, just looked slightly annoyed.

“Hey, hey hey, you can’t fault a guy for trying,” Hades was saying, hands moving every which way as he spoke. “With my main business gone, how do you expect a guy to eat around here?”

Riku’s hand was protective in front of the black haired guy and didn’t move an inch. “Leave,” he hissed. “Or I’ll make you.”

Hades and Riku stared off for what felt like to Sora eons before Hades raised his hands to the sky. “Fine. _Fine_ , I didn’t need this stupid little town anyway. And hey. If you ever need a shot of _something_ to get you through these dark and difficult times, blame this guy right here when you can’t get anything,” Hades said.

He took a step aside, moving as if to walk away, when he finally noticed Sora standing there. “Ah, and the boyfriend appears. I was wondering if you’d show up. Tell me, wasn’t I right about loves true kiss?” Hades clasped his hands together and grinned. “It’s almost magical!”

Sora didn’t even have to see Riku’s face to see how tightly he tensed up. But Sora just scowled. “You heard him. Go away, Hades.”

Hades rolled his eyes. “Augh. Fine. Fine. But Zack, kid? You’ll regret this.” Without another word, Hades swept away from the three of them and disappeared into the commons.

Riku lowered his hand slowly, turning to this Zack kid. “You okay?”

Now that Sora could actually get a glimpse at the guy, he realized that Zack had to probably be a senior or something, or even a grad student. Way older than them, but still… kind of gullible looking.

But more importantly, who was this guy to _Riku_?

“Hey, thanks man!” Zack said, slapping Riku on the back. Riku didn’t flinch, Sora noted. “And you too!” Zack reached over and pulled Sora into a tight hug. Sora only flailed a little bit.

“What was Hades doing here?” Riku said, all business. Sora was trying to escape from the friendly clutches of Zack so he didn’t have much to add.

“Well,” Zack said. “I’ve been struggling with my thesis and might of complained aloud that I needed some stuff to help me through and suddenly that weird guy showed up. And then you did.” He raised an eyebrow. “Have you met him before?”

Riku crossed his arms and looked away, so Sora spoke up. “Yeah, we’ve… met. It’s good you got away from him! Dealing with him can be really bad news.”

Zack tousled Sora’s hair and Sora resisted the urge to scowl. “Aw, thanks for the help guys! I owe you guys one.”

And before either of them could respond, Zack took off, pulling out his phone and practically shouting into it. “Hey spikey! You’d never _believe_ what just happened to me!”

Which…  left both Riku and Sora alone. Riku was still looking away, visibly uncomfortable, and Sora was torn. He made to take a step forward, but stopped.

Riku still hadn’t moved and Sora sucked in a deep breath. He wasn’t stupid – after spending so long ignoring his texts and calls and everything else, he could tell when he wasn’t wanted. And he never had a speech prepared – that was Roxas’s job. He was going to be the one to yell and shout and scream at Riku for being a jerk and Sora was going to watch.

He didn’t think he’d be doing this alone. A small part of him was terrified. A larger part was just pissed. And someone deep inside was just so… sad.

“I hope you realize how much of an asshole you are,” Sora said. He hoped his voice sounded venomous and vengeful and all the other mixed emotions that were rushing through his head but he knew that it probably just sounded defeated. “My friends and I basically went through hell and back to clean up your mistakes and this is how you treat us? I …” And Sora lowered his head, gripping his hands into fists. “I don’t want to fight. I just wanted to make sure you were okay after all of that and… I guess you are. And… that’s good.”

With that, Sora turned, hiking his backpack up on his shoulder. That wasn’t how he wanted his first meeting with Riku to go. He wanted Riku to... heck, he didn’t know. Fall to Sora’s feet begging for forgiveness or for everything in the past few months not to have happened. But, it did, and this was the end result. It was all was and done and Riku hadn’t even said or done _anything_.

Maybe Roxas would be home. He kind of needed to cry a bit.

“I’m sorry,” Riku said. Sora paused, turning back to Riku, who was still facing away from him. His stance was still incredibly tense. “I know I’m sorry isn’t good enough, but I’m so _sorry_.”

Despite Sora’s conflicting feelings, he frowned. “I thought we could’ve been friends, after all of this,” Sora said, crossing his arms. He wasn’t going to go into anything else, not now. “So why did you blow us off?”

“Did you think it’s easy to face you, after what I did?” Riku said, voice quiet.

Sora resisted the urge to chuck his backpack at Riku’s head. With the weight of his textbooks, Sora might have actually killed him. And, at the moment, Sora wasn’t really feeling too bad about the idea. “We were willing!” He exclaimed, before quickly amending. “At least I was. I hope you weren’t this shitty with Kairi when you—”

“I’m not sorry for that,” Riku snapped, finally looking up at Sora. And that’s when Sora finally saw it. All those weeks ago, when Riku had woken up in the hospital, his eyes were the normal, lovely shade of aquamarine. But there were now small flecks of orange littered throughout, only noticeable because of how close Sora was standing.

Sora took a step back, trying and failing to will his heart to stop beating a million miles an hour (because Ansem _had_ to be gone. He wasn’t going through that again, no way, no _how_ ). Riku sighed and all the fight seemed to fly out of him.

“I’m not sorry that I got you thrown out of the hospital. Or that I’ve been ignoring you,” Riku said. “But I sorry I hurt you in the process.”

He was quiet for so long that Sora took a tentative step forward. “But why wouldn’t you let us in? We could’ve helped you,” Sora said.

Riku went silent again. Sora, against everything inside screaming for him to run, took another step closer. “Because I could see everything he did,” Riku said, lowering his head. “Sora, I could hear you screaming when he strangled you. I might have won for now, but I can still tell there’s some Darkness still somewhere inside me. I can’t have that happen to you again okay?” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Dammit Sora, I could hear you when I was unconscious and fighting Ansem. I like you. I _really_ like you and before all this shit happened, I wanted something but I’m not going to put you through that again just because of my feelings. Just leave me alone. You’ll find someone else and you will be happy, but most of all, _safe_.”

Well. That was a lot to take in, but one thing stuck out really loud and clear in Sora’s mind.

“Wait a minute,” Sora said, scowling. Riku looked up, apparently not expecting that response. “You like me. Awesome. But how _dare_ you make decisions for me.”

Riku’s face screwed up in confusion. “Last time, I almost hurt you—"

“You have Kairi on your side,” Sora cut in. “And you kidnapped her.” Riku’s expression fell, and Sora reached for his arm. “Riku, we’re your _friends_! If Kairi’s was willing to put aside, you know, _kidnapping charges_ and the like because she wants to help you, don’t assume that you’re alone in this!”

“But…” Riku stammered, and Sora leaned forward, grabbing Riku’s hands. He froze, but Sora held on tight.

“I’ve been through a lot of shit for you,” Sora said. He squeezed Riku’s hands a little tighter than necessary. “A _lot_ of shit. But I really like you, okay?” He paused. “When you’re not threatening my friends. Or breaking into my dorm room.” Sora frowned. “Actually, if you ever pull that shit again, I will actually get you arrested, no matter how cute you are.”

Riku let out a sound that could’ve been a sob or a laugh. Sora couldn’t tell. Riku’s eyes were downcast.

“But,” Sora continued. “I like you. And I can make my own decisions. Okay?” Riku nodded. Sora smiled, tilting Riku’s face up, trying to not frown when he saw just how much Riku had been crying. “Unless you push me away again, I’m not going anywhere, okay? So don’t pull this lone warrior act on me and don’t you dare get me thrown out of places because you don’t think I can handle it.”

“Thank you,” Riku said, using his free hand to wipe at his face. “But I can’t. I just… Sora, you got hurt because of me. Everything that went wrong was because I—”

Sora covered Riku’s mouth, causing Riku to blink. “Look,” Sora said, finally letting go of Riku’s hands. “We both kind of started this thing a little weirdly. I kinda selfishly wanted to sleep with you. You…” he shrugged. ‘ _Got possessed and tried to murder me’_ probably wasn’t the best thing to say. “You ended up with the wrong crowd. So. Let’s try again.”

Riku looked away. “It’s not going to be that easy,” he said, crossing his arms. “I can’t just forget that I hurt you or push aside what happened.”

Sora raised an eyebrow. “And I still have nightmares from what happened. And I haven't slept well in months because of it,” Sora said, fixing Riku a hard look. Riku squeezed his eyes shut, and Sora reached for his arm. "And I never said it was going to _be_ easy. There’s going to be a lot to work through, but, god, Riku, I’m willing to try!”

There was a long pause, and Riku stared at a spot on the ground for much longer than necessary. This was a terrible idea, and Sora shouldn’t be here and…

“Try again?” Riku repeated, finally looking back up to Sora. They locked eyes and and the orange flecks in Riku’s eyes faded, every so slightly. They weren’t done, but they were definitely much lighter than a few minutes ago. “And how would we do that?”

Sora took a small step away and held out a hand, forcing himself to smile. “Like this. Hi. I’m Sora. And you are?”

Riku looked down at Sora’s hands, but Sora forced himself to not move. He knew there was going to be a lot more to fixing this, both in trust issues, and oh goodness, was Roxas going to _muderize him_ once he realized what Sora had done, but he had to start somewhere. He didn’t work this hard just for Riku to scamper away again.

But after a long, awkward pause, Riku held out his hand as well, shaking Sora’s. “I’m Riku,” Riku said quietly. “It’s nice to meet you.”

And with that, Sora could feel a real grin forming on his face for the first time in weeks.


	17. Epilogue

_One year later…_

“Roxas is going to _kill_ me.”

Sora looked over from where he was sitting on Riku’s bed to stare at Riku covering his face. “He’s not going to _kill_ you,” Sora offered, before turning back to his textbook. “Threaten you. Maim you, at the most.”

“It’s Axel you’ll want to watch out for,” Kairi chimed in from her desk. “You _did_ put his fiancée into a coma and then almost carved his heart out. From what I heard, he’s still fairly upset about it.”

Sora shot Kairi a look but she shrugged. And to think that Sora had thought Axel was brutally honest. Oof.

“They weren’t engaged when this all happened,” Riku said behind his hands.

“Exactly,” Sora said, flipping a page. “Look at you! Bringing couples closer.” Sora paused, wincing to himself. “Although Aladdin did almost take you to court, right? Before Jasmine talked him out of it?”

There was a soft _fwump_ of Riku collapsing onto his desk. Sora looked up and sighed, climbing off the bed and wrapping his arms around Riku.

“Babe, it’ll be okay,” he said, playing with Riku’s hair. “Kairi and I will vouch for you. And Roxas’s knows we’ve been dating.” Sora paused. “Axel doesn’t. Demyx doesn’t either, so he might scream and flee. I told Goofy cause he can keep a secret but not Donald, so he might have something to say—”

“That fucking duck,” Riku muttered. His tone was a touch darker than Sora felt comfortable with.

Sora frowned. “Hey. That’s my friend you’re talking about,” he said, bopping Riku’s head. Riku grumbled softly but didn’t say anything. “You’re still going to Mickey and Minnie’s about those rage flare ups, right? Just in case?” Riku nodded, and Sora leaned in to kiss the top of Riku’s head. “Good.”

Riku went quiet, and Sora moved aside, dropping down so he was eye level with Riku. At this level, it was easy to see the trepidation that was written all over Riku’s face. “What if they tell you to dump me?” Riku asked quietly. “I mean, after what they’ve been through, I wouldn’t blame them…”

Sora rolled his eyes, and threated his hands through Riku’s hair. “We’ve been dating for almost three months,” he said. “And it’s been a while since all that… happened.” He gave a wave of his hand, to encapsulate ‘ _When you got possessed and tried to kill us, etc, etc.’_ “I’m not saying they’ve… forgotten or anything, but I think Roxas is _almost_ beginning to _think_ about being okay with it.”

“And besides. Hasn’t Roxas gone with you to _every_ date?” Kairi asked. Sora threw her a dark look and she raised her hands defensively. “Juuust curious. Though I’m just imaging Roxas lurking behind you as you guys attempt to eat together—”

“ _But_ ,” Sora continued, cutting Kairi off. “I’m an adult. Even if they demand I dump you, I’m not just going to jump up and do it.” Sora tugged Riku’s face forward. “You’ve been getting better and I like you. But if you’re not okay having dinner with them today, we don’t have to.”

Riku let a shaky sigh. “No. No, I’m okay. I’m just being a wimp.”

Sora smiled, leaning his forehead against Riku’s. “If you’re at all uncomfortable, please, let me know? We can leave whenever you want.” Sora reached over and grabbed Riku’s hand, lacing their finger together. “Okay?”

Riku nodded, bringing Sora’s hand against his lips and gently kissing it.

\---

All of the confidence Sora had felt back in Riku’s dorm room seemed to rush away as they walked into the dining hall. He already knew his brother’s reactions (not good but not murderous), and knowing how seriously Roxas was treating this, he could’ve prepped them. But Kairi had a good point. Axel had the most of a reason to hate Riku right off the bat.

Even if they didn’t count the time Axel had tried to go murder Riku. That time was best forgotten at the moment.

“Are you okay?” Riku asked, when Sora stood stock still at the entrance of the dining hall. “If you don’t want to—”

“If you’re okay,” Sora said firmly. “I’m okay.”

Riku nodded shakily, and they both entered the dining hall.

Sora scanned the tables, looking for his brother, or Demyx, or Goofy or any of them, when he heard a loud squawk. He didn’t even have to check to confirm that it was Donald before tugging Riku alongside him.

As luck (or Roxas) would have it, the only two open chairs were in front of Roxas and Axel. Sora pulled Riku along as the majority of the table’s inhabitants stared at Riku. Some were subtle, and some were Demyx, who let out something similar to a scream and positioned his chair behind Larxene’s.

“Having fun playing with fire?” Larxene asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sora scowled and sat in front of Roxas, as Riku gingerly took the seat in front of Axel.

The red head stared long and hard at Riku. “By all rights, I should just stab you and be done with it,” Axel said, expression not even changing.

Sora shot Roxas a pleading look, but the blond wasn’t even looking in Sora’s direction, too busy staring down Riku alongside his boyfriend.

Oops. _Fiancée._

Riku kept eye contact with Axel. “And I probably deserve it. Thank you for even letting me sit here today.”

Axel continued to stare at Riku. Sora was quite… proud of Riku for not looking away or growing angry or …anything. He just took the brunt of Axel’s rage and dealt with it.

After a while, Axel let out a huff. “It’s cute that you’re trying to make me the bad guy. I seem to remember—”

Roxas let out a soft but firm cough. Axel closed his eyes for a moment, sucked in a deep breath, before shaking his head.

“But if you’re really doing _so_ much better, I can play nice, I guess. Besides,” Axel said. His tone slightly tinged with something like frustration. “We’ve never formally been introduced,” he said, holding out a hand. “Unless you’d like to keep the time you tried to break down my door as our first meeting?”

Riku shook his head, reaching forward to grip Axel’s hands. “It’s nice to… formally meet you, Axel.” Riku said.

Axel grinned, and it was that kind of malicious, feral grin that said that even if he accepted Riku into his life, he was never going to let the boy forget what he’d done. “Charmed.”

Sora let out a sigh and looked to Roxas again, who finally caught his brother’s eye and shrugged. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Sora’s grabbed Riku’s hand and squeezed.

Riku looked up to Sora, giving him a small smile. And for the first time in a very long time, Sora saw no flecks of orange in Riku’s eyes.

Sora just smiled back.

 

**Author's Note:**

> In case you couldn’t tell, and it’s fairly obvious from the tonal shift from chapters 1 (and kind of 2) through the ending, and hahaha THE TITLE, this story was never supposed to go like this. I wanted to write a cute little story where Riku and Sora met and it was cute and adorable. But after I published chapter 1, I thought more about how interesting it would be if I took it farther. And, how far could I take it before anyone was like “what the hell is wrong with you, stop that.”
> 
> And lo and behold, I took it quite far. I _love_ the idea of a possessed Sora or Riku (I’ve… now done both. Goodness) attempting to manipulate the other, I love college aus, and I love weird ass magical realism. But I was mainly writing this weirdness for myself. I didn’t think anyone else would enjoy it. But you guys have and I have a plethora of super sweet comments (yes, y’all are screaming half the time but that’s what makes it GRAND) about this fic and you have no idea how much it means to me.
> 
> And this fic’s thank you is gonna be SUPER sappy because in the middle of the writing this, I had a lot of personal things that happened during my time writing this fic, which is why there have been random breaks in the middle of posting. So anyone who has left a kind comment, thank you so much. You really don’t know how much torturing these characters and making you all scream in horror has kept me sane for the past few months.
> 
> So, again, thank you thank you _thank you_ for being such great readers. And hopefully now that it’s finished, more people can explore the torment of my favorite characters. 
> 
> Also, you can always find me on [tumblr](http://legendaryguardian.tumblr.com/)! ♥


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